My mother and father found this skull on the beach in Monterey, CA in
1971 and it has been stored in their closet for many years, we've
always wondered what it belongs to.  If you can please help me
identify this skull, I would greatly appreciate it. I've looked at
alot of photos of skulls and couldn't seem to place it. I took 12
pictures, most next to a measuring tape, it measures 12 inches front to
back, 5 1/2 inches high and 6 inches wide.  It seems to be carnivorous
by the looks of it's teeth. If you can think of a better angle for a
photo please request it. I uploaded them here -

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOHLJo4btmrsg&notag=1 

Thank you so much for your help.

Did you tried contacting an specialist at a natural museum in your area?

It looks canine to me, either coyote or big domestic dog is my guess,
although it looks too big for coyote.

Here's a domestic dog 
http://www.skullsunlimited.com/domestic_dog_skull.html

and here's a coyote for comparison
http://www.skullsunlimited.com/coyote_skull.html

And here's a wolf....much heavier than your specimen I think
http://www.searchingwolf.com/wskull.htm

willie-ga

Unfortunately I don't think there are any Natural Museums nearby, I'm
in central West Virginia. If anyone knows of a nearby one, I'd be
grateful to know.  Thank you.

I thought it closely resembled a coyote also, until I did a side by
side comparison, the eye sockets seem so huge and low, and the top of
the skull seems very different, but I will definitely look into the
possibility further.

May be in a Zoo you can find the specialist if you cannot locate a museum.

Oglebay's Good Zoo
Rt. 88 North
Ohio County
Wheeling, WV 26003
Contact: Penny Miller 
Fax: 304.243.4110
Email: pmiller@oglebay-resort.com
http://www.oglebay-resort.com/goodzoo/index.html

Or may be here:
West Virginia State Wildlife Center
PO Box 38
Upshur County
French Creek, WV 26218
Contact: William E. Vanscoy 
Phone: 304.924.6781 
Email: olipps@neumedia.com


You can also try with a veterinarian.

If you can be more specific about your location, saying us the city or
the county for example we can help you better.

Good luck!!
livioflores-ga

Might be a bear. Look at this:

http://www.boneclones.com/BC-099.htm

Hmm...I think it looks like a California Sea Lion Skull!

http://www.azdrybones.com/pinnipeds.htm#2   

http://www.d91.k12.id.us/www/skyline/teachers/robertsd/sealion.htm

-picture of a sea lion skull  

who knows maybe it's an Alien Skull =)

California Sealion? Check out the eye sockets, the way the "snout"
dips for the nose and the incisors.

http://www.azdrybones.com/pinnipeds.htm

Monterey Bay has a lot of seals and sealions.

Serenata

I have to agree, it really does look like the California Sea Lion, I
had never even thought about that being a possibility.  Even the
measurements sound right.  And being on the beach, that's definitely a
good place to find a sea lion.  Thank you. It also sort of resembles
the Bear also, but I am leaning toward the California Sea Lion
strongly.

And I am in Fairmont West Virginia, close to Morgantown, West
Virginia, about 40 miles from Pittsburgh. So any ideas of where a
specialist would be close, would be great! Thank you.

your best bet would be to find an aquarium or Sea world type place
nearby. I'm not sure if West Virginia has any such places but a phone
book would help in that search. =)

http://www.tsev.com/tsas/ 
- Tristate Aquarium Society

they may be able to help you. Their located in West Virginia.

Good Luck.

This is not an opinion. This is a fact. It is a sea lion. Almost
certainly a California Sea Lion. I know this because I have a large
number of skulls and skeletons from a wide range of vertebrates. I can
tell you authoritatively that this looks nothing like a dog, a coyote,
a fox, a bear, a wolf, a raccoon, a mountain lion or anything else. In
the first place the skull is far too large for any of those creatures
except bear. Second, each of these creatures has a very distinct
shape. Having examined dead sea lions on Monterey's beaches, I know
both that the animal I suggest lives in the area and that the skull
you present possesses all the features of a sea lion. It has the
carnivore dentition. It has a pronounced sagittal crest. It is
precisely the right size for an eight foot long, 700 pound beast. And,
since I've seen them before, the gestalt is exactly the same.

I hope that helps.

This is a California Sealion skull. No doubt about that, and further
more this is a male specimen by the very high sagittal crest (the
middle ridge on top of skull). The skull from sealion (Family
Otariidae) can be readily distinguished from the seal (Family
Phocidae)by two characters. One is the sealion has a post-orbital
process. That is the projection on the upper boarder of orbit (eye
socket). Seal do not have this process. Second, the seal has more
specialized teeth than sealion. Seal cheek teeth has 3+ cusps and
looks like better described as "flame" like. By comparison, sealion
teeth are more simple conical shaped. I mention seal skull here
because, one might encounter a seal skull in the same general area
because in the coast of N.Am, harbor seal is common.
Some of the comment posting say it might belong to a dog or coyote.
The dog, coyote (family Canidae) as well as all cats (family Felidae)
have very large pair specialized teeth called "carnassial teeth". The
carnassial set is made up by the last premolar on upper jaw and the
first molar of lower jaw. These are for meat shearing purpose. Seal
and sealion families don't have such large specialized set of teeth.
The bear has very flat crowned cheek teeth much like human's.
This looks like a very good specimen if it has the lower jaw. 
BTW. What is this $5.00 price tag for? Are the owner want to sell it? Let me know.