Critters in the area. (Tolland, CT)

[SAR-EMT40]

While hiking around my companies’ property I found a small piece of hair with a small piece of flesh attached. With some searching I was able to find the carcass of a deer. At the time the deer was a pretty fresh kill with primarily only the internal organs missing. The carcass had been moved about 50 feet the first night, and 150 feet the second night. On the night of (2/28/09) I set up a game camera I own. These photos were time stamped right near 11PM. I'll grant you that the pictures aren't the best but I think they are clear enough. At the time of the photos this carcass was only the spine, skin, head and some attached bones. This took no more than three nights. After the second day most of the meat was gone. I don't know if they killed the deer based upon what I saw of the carcass originally. The deer appeared to be of good weight with no visible disease or injury prior to death, although it was a smaller deer.

If someone would like to tell me what they think the two flash reflections on the head in both photos on that one animal is, I would be interested in your theories? It is not on the lens or something in front of the lens or in the detector because they occur on the same place on the animal but in different areas of the lens. I have a thought on the subject but don’t want to poison the thought pool.

Keith

 

[Oldmanwinter]

Looks like his headlamp is on

 

[Peakbagr]

Retina bounceback, maybe?

 

[griffin]

Looks like retina bounceback to me (and my admittedly untrained eye) as well.

The only other thing I could think of is some kind of research tracking device...

 

[DougPaul]

Some animals have a reflective layer in their eyes to increase low-light sensitivity. The layer is behind the retina so that light passes through it twice increasing the chance that a photon will be detected. Light that is not absorbed passes back out and is what you see. The lens focuses the incoming light to a spot on the retina and reflector and focuses light from that bright spot back out in the direction from which it came. These pictures were taken with the light source (a flash) very close to camera so the eyes look very bright in the picture.

The same happens to produce red-eye in flash pictures of humans except that humans do not have a reflective layer.

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum

Doug

 

[Peakbagr]

"Some animals have a reflective layer in their eyes to increase low-light sensitivity. The layer is behind the retina so that light passes through it twice increasing the chance that a photon will be detected. Light that is not absorbed passes back out and is what you see. The lens focuses the incoming light to a spot on the retina and reflector and focuses light from that bright spot back out in the direction from which it came. These pictures were taken with the light source (a flash) very close to camera so the eyes look very bright in the picture.
The same happens to produce red-eye in flash pictures of humans except that humans do not have a reflective layer."

Yeah, thats what I said.

 

[Hobbitling]

you may be able to estimate the condition of the deer by cracking open the bone and looking at the marrow. A starving deer will have red, gelatinous marrow, while a healthy deer will have fatty, pink marrow. they store fat in the marrow, but the body only uses it as a last resort during extreme starvation. it should be cold enough to preserve it fairly well for a few days.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

If this was the case, retinal reflection then tell me this. Almost all animals have a color to their retina reflection, just like humans have red. It is actually kind of distinct to each specific animal type and can be used to help identify them at night. Why is this ones white? Also if one eye is flashing back why isn't the other? Did he loose it or does he have eyes like a chameleon? Also look very carefully at the position of the head. Does it appear that is where an eye should be?

I'm just asking questions, not being argumentative.


Hobbitling good point about the bone marrow. The carcass is under about 12 inches of snow right now but like I said she looked pretty healthy to me when I saw it, aside from the being dead part.


Keith

 

[DougPaul]

If this was the case, retinal reflection then tell me this. Almost all animals have a color to their retina reflection, just like humans have red. It is actually kind of distinct to each specific animal type and can be used to help identify them at night. Why is this ones white? Also if one eye is flashing back why isn't the other? Did he loose it or does he have eyes like a chameleon? Also look very carefully at the position of the head. Does it appear that is where an eye should be?

See for info on color: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum.

One eye: maybe the animal's head was turned so that only one eye was visible. Or one eye was closed.

Doug

 

[Hobbitling]

might be a dog with a reflective tag on it's collar, but it does seem like it's in the eye area.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

might be a dog with a reflective tag on it's collar, but it does seem like it's in the eye area.

BINGO! That one might be a Fido. Collars can shift around and metal would reflect white. Not sure but I am leaning in that direction.

Keith

 

[nartreb]

Similar idea to a collar: my first thought was an ear tag. But I think I can see the ears and the reflection is too far away. Looks like it's in the middle of the forehead. Definitely not an ear tag and I've never seen a collar tag in that location. Doesn't quite seem right for a retinal reflection (for reasons previously mentioned) but I like that best of the theories so far.

I'd like to know what caused the spot reflections in the background of the first photo.

 

[Hobbitling]

I do camera trapping for my job. "eyeshine" can appear very bright sometimes, especially if the camera is very light sensitive. It's certainly possible for eyes to look this bright if the flash hits it just right.

those other spots might be moths or other bugs.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

I'd like to know what caused the spot reflections in the background of the first photo.

Those are all actually lights in the distance.

Keith

 

[Grumpy]

It has the appearance of camera flash "red eye" gone over the top -- just so darned bright it becomes a glowing specular highlight. The effect is exaggerated if the focus of the camera lens is a bit "soft" or there is something like a fingerprint on the lens causing diffusion of the image.

Red eye is a reflection off the eye's retina. It shows up red in humans, but sometimes in other colors in other animals, in my experience.

G.

 

[weatherman]

Top pic: eyeshine off one eye of a coyote. Bottom pic: eyeshine off one eye of a coyote, with another coyote standing to the left (no eyeshine). In my experience, there has to be a pretty direct "hit" for you to see the eyeshine, so many times only one (or zero) eyes are visible in a still pic.

I'd bet $5 but not $20.

Weatherman

 

[Jazzbo]

Coyote

Very interesting photos!!!! I don't know about the flash, but I think it's coyote. The 2nd shot looks pretty clearly to be a coyote. My Rezindes book "Tracking and the Art of Seeing" says coyotes eat the intestines first going in through the anal region (Yukk!) and return to eat other parts leaving nothing but hide and bones. You've described the sequence pretty well. Did you notice how they went after the entrails?

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Very interesting photos!!!! I don't know about the flash, but I think it's coyote. The 2nd shot looks pretty clearly to be a coyote. My Rezindes book "Tracking and the Art of Seeing" says coyotes eat the intestines first going in through the anal region (Yukk!) and return to eat other parts leaving nothing but hide and bones. You've described the sequence pretty well. Did you notice how they went after the entrails?

Correct, members of the dog family usually enter an animal from the rear.

I do know that the organs were gone first. I suspected that coyotes had either taken it down or gotten to it pretty soon after death based on this. Thats why I wanted to set up the camera. My understanding is that they eat the hide last. They were at that point when the pictures were taken. Nothing but the spine, leg bones, ribs and hide and the head.

I do have pictures of the devolving of the carcass but wasn't sure if I should post them. If there is enough demand I can post them.

Keith

 

[Jazzbo]

Additional gory details

If you store your photos on an on-line thing like Webshots, you could post a link to the on-line album. Then only people interested in such things could go to it.