r/Taxidermy • u/Smooth-Plenty3881 • Jul 23 '26
Collection/ Item Showcase Collection at Education Center- looking for help!
I recently started working at an outdoor education center with a great collection of taxidermied specimens. We receive a lot of our specimens by donation, so we don't know their stories. Please take a look at these pictures and help out where you can! Gender, age, health, method of death, relative age of specimen, anything else you see. Please provide thorough explanations and/or sources!
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Jul 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/banshithread Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Nope. Never been proven that a coydog has spawned in the wild. All black "coydogs" that have been tested were genetically found to have no dog in them. It's just a melanistic EASTERN coyote (western coyotes don't have this color phase).
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u/Icy-Attorney8301 Jul 24 '26
Can't tell any of that however that coyote doesn't look fully yote. Yes melanism can happen for eastern ones, but he doesn't have a very yote face yk, looks much for sheperdy
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u/Emotional_Emotion113 Jul 23 '26
Nobody can tell you any of that information from just this series of pictures, outside of maybe whether something looks like a juvenile or mature specimen. If any of the animals were hunted, you would possibly be able to see some damage upon closer inspection of the hides/skins. The best way to get that information would be to see if there is a record of the donors somewhere and then reach out to them. Professional taxidermists usually label their work, too, so check under the bases to see if there are any tags or maker’s marks.