May 2026 Natural Mystery Answered

Everyone who wrote in recognized that this carcass belonged to a mammal highly adapted for digging. Congratulations to Haleigh Ziebol for identifying these remains to species, and for recognizing the distinctive bone protruding on the right.

This is the carcass of an Eastern Mole (Scalopus aquaticus), with the animal’s humerus (upper arm bone) protruding to the right.

Here is Haleigh’s interpretation:

“I came up with a list of possible mammals that have long claws like we see in this photo: mole, pocket gopher, skunk, porcupine and badger. The foot looks to be about 1/2 inch wide, which will narrow down the list of possible candidates assuming maturity (badger, porcupine). Most of these contenders have nails that are relatively longer and thinner (with a different cross section) than these and come to a sharper point. This only leaves us with a mole, who we know could easily inhabit a lawn. There are two species of moles in the area: eastern and star-nosed. This is likely an eastern mole given they are common in lawns, while the star-nosed mole prefers wet areas in forests [ed: the star-nosed mole’s nails are also proportionally longer and thinner than those of the eastern mole]. The foot is a front which have these hefty specialized claws for digging and their hinds are tinier. The thinner nails are on outer fingers, so this is from the left side of the body. The bone is the humerus, which is exceptionally thick to support the power needed to shovel their way through the earth.”