Another example of a raccoon skull buried in soil that left it with a rusty colour. I’m thinking it must be a high iron content in the dirt? It looks great and it lasts even after cleaning, as with this skull.

Unfortunately, this one has some heavy damage to all but one of its canine teeth, which was probably due to being struck by a vehicle.

Freshly exhumed raccoon bones! I’m unsure what the little round hole in the skull is, though I suspect it’s the result of scavengers pecking through the skull. Additional note, the brown-red colour comes from the soil I buried it in, and unless I were to bleach it, it retains that hue even when cleaned!

[Edit]: Because folks have showed very understandable concern about it, I want to assure that I did not shoot this animal. I found it dead already (of what I still think is most likely a road collision given the location), buried it, and let nature take care of the rest until I dug it up. The location of the hole does raise suspicion of a firearm, particularly a pellet gun, but I’m still not sure of this. Again, such concern is completely understandable, and I like that people would care about such a thing and check in!