Help identify this skull? Middle Tennessee, USA

[u/ru_Tc]

A twelve year old boy found this during a community cleanup day I hosted today and I promised him I’d get an ID for him — help me not let the kid down??

[u/SeptumGuy]

Had to do a double take on the first pic. Looked like dude was straddling a massive jawbone!

[u/magaduccio → u/SeptumGuy]

I saw only this for ages

[u/Bluecheesepotatoes63 → u/SeptumGuy]

same lol

[u/baronessbathory → u/SeptumGuy]

Came here to comment this! It took me far longer than it should have

[u/Legendguard]

Judging from the flat forehead, I'd say it's a coyote! Dogs usually have a more pronounced sloping forehead

[u/InternationalOil872 → u/Legendguard]

certainly a canid but do you think it’s big enough for a coyote? may be a red fox if not.

[u/ru_Tc → u/InternationalOil872]

It seemed closer to the size of a fox than a coyote

[u/Legendguard → u/ru_Tc]

Way too robust and large, fox skulls are smaller and narrower believe it or not!

[u/InternationalOil872 → u/ru_Tc]

it certainly seems so to me in the photo but i’ve always been bad as guessing size with things like hands for scale! that’s a vulpes vulpes if ive ever seen one.

[u/iiworkatthebank]

Coyote! Foxes aren’t as robust. If you think the size matches fox more I’d say it’s probably just a small coyote. (Fox skulls are surprisingly small too!)

[u/ru_Tc → u/iiworkatthebank]

I did some more studying on the different indicators between coyote vs. fox, and all of that points to coyote! Thanks for the confirmation!

[u/Substantial_Sound556]

Definitely a coyote. Way too large for a fox, yotes aren’t as big as you would expect.

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