Not Irish wildlife, but as it's the best photo I ever took...ID this!

Obliq

Clue: NSW Australia, burned out eucalyptus forestry.

bing3

Looks like an immature cicada. Nice shot!

Obliq

bing3 wrote: »

Looks like an immature cicada. Nice shot!

Well done, and thanks! It's just the shell, left hanging in the tree. The extraordinary thing is that I think the fire went over it, as I can see all the scorched bristles when zoomed in. I suppose it's chitin though, so fairly fireproof.

Took me about 10 mins and 10 different settings to get my rubbish automatic finepix to take that, but I'm proud of it!

Mickeroo

I found one of these on a tree in New Zealand too, amazing the way they leave a fully intact shell like that.

bing3

Wow. Never would have guessed it was empty. Must have some serious hooks on those feet.

Obliq

Ok, that was clearly an easy one. I keep finding odd bits of skeleton (including the above) and some are really hard to identify. Maybe there could be a thread dedicated to interesting/unidentified finds? But I can't change the title of this one.

Here's a much better poser for you, found on Trácht beach outside of Kinvara last year. I guessed what it was, but still haven't nailed down the exact species. Have a go if you're interested.





I've an even more difficult skeleton part, but I'll have to retrieve it from the fella's place and take a photo or two...looking forward to seeing how quick some of you experts get this one though!
Edit: Clue is that it rattles, and it's meant to.

baaba maal

Is it from the ear of a whale?- I most certainly will not try to guess the species!

Obliq

baaba maal wrote: »

Is it from the ear of a whale?- I most certainly will not try to guess the species!

Excellent job! I thought whale as well, but I think I was wrong. It's more likely a harbour seal or a dolphin, as the whale ear bones seem to be a lot smoother and bigger (unless it's from a young one). It's really hard to tell from the photos I've found online. Nice one baaba maal

baaba maal

Yay! Not bad considering the nearest I have got to a whale is about 500 metres:)

baaba maal

I should have acknowledged that it wasn't a whale- but a cetacean is close enough!

Obliq

baaba maal wrote: »

I should have acknowledged that it wasn't a whale- but a cetacean is close enough!

Well, I don't know any better than yourself about the cetacean it's from, but we're both right with it's part of the ear. I think it's the cochlea, but I've haven't any learning here.

This site is cool though, but you'd go mad trying to work out which bit of the ear it is, and from which beastie!

http://csi.whoi.edu/media/harborsealear3D
http://csi.whoi.edu/media/minkeear3D

baaba maal

Wow- the internet really DOES have everything! Brilliant stuff.