Mouse head found on the lawn in backyard. What would have eaten it?

[mxnerd]

Saw a fresh mouse head this morning. Disgusted.

What would have eaten it? Opossum?

Doesn't animal always eats its prey from head?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Most likely a kitty or raptor. Mice job sending a message.

 

[boomerang]

So, there was more than one mouse?

 

[shortylickens]

Your cat.
Also, he's holding out on you.

 

[mxnerd]

So, there was more than one mouse?

Only one. Sorry for my poor English.

 

[mxnerd]

Need to setup mouse traps or buy some poison blocks.

 

[whm1974]

Need to setup mouse traps or buy some poison blocks.

Unless it was a rat that got the mouse, sounds like you already have solution to the problem if some other animal is killing mice. In that case you don't want to hurt or kill it.

 

[Perknose]

Doesn't animal always eats its prey from head?

That's my general understanding as well, which is why I think this was a statement crime, committed by one of your neighbors. The man/mouse relationship is endlessly fraught. There is only so much cheese to go around. The problem is real, and has been scientifically documented.

 

[mxnerd]

That's my general understanding as well, which is why I think this was a statement crime, committed by one of your neighbors. The man/mouse relationship is endlessly fraught. There is only so much cheese to go around. The problem is real, and has been scientifically documented.

I think I watched too many python/snake eating mouse videos.

The predator in my backyard probably think mouse's skull is too hard to chew through or to swallow.

 

[Mike64]

Doesn't animal always eats its prey from head?

No. Skulls are really hard and not easy to break open and relatively speaking, the nutritional return-for-effort is low. I think most carnivorous/predatory animals usually start with the nice soft, squishy abdomen, or if not that, whatever body part rips, tears, or breaks open first...

 

[Perknose]

No. Skulls are really hard and not easy to break open and relatively speaking, the nutritional return-for-effort is low. .

Uh, both of my cats eat the entire mouse, head and all, with ease, gusto and dispatch. Their skulls are not hard to eat at all, and there are zero skull pieces in my cat's scat, so they digest it all easily as well.

In the open fields that abut woods, you can often find the headless bodies of rodents that raptors, among other predators, have eaten only the head from. Which brings me to the last part of your declaration: nutritional value. The brains that reside in skulls are both tasty (also to humans in other cultures) and of particularly high nutrition.

The sole part of the mouse that my cats don't eat appears to be their livers. Apparently, even cats don't like liver!

 

[highland145]

 

[Ichinisan]

No. Skulls are really hard and not easy to break open and relatively speaking, the nutritional return-for-effort is low. I think most carnivorous/predatory animals usually start with the nice soft, squishy abdomen, or if not that, whatever body part rips, tears, or breaks open first...

I observed a small group of crows eating some baby squirrels. At least one of them had learned to go for the brain before anything else. Of course, crows have strong beaks and are smart enough to learn how to use pavement to their advantage. Probably some essential nutrient in the brain, I guess.

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...quirrel-brains-nasty-picture-warning.2108635/

 

[NetWareHead]

Most likely a cat. Mine leaves beheaded mice on my doorstep and I've found heads around my property, sometimes inside the house.

 

[who?]

Wimpy cat. My mother's cat eats all of the squirrel except the back legs.

 

[esquared]

Maybe this guy?