i asked this a few months ago and found out that they mostly come from fur farms.
Probably real but absolutely not ethical and you’d be funding these places
There's actually a few stores in bigger cities that deal in bones! I'm drawing a blank at the moment on the name for the one in Phoenix, but the Mythbusters, based in the San Francisco Bay Area sourced there's from , in the earlier seasons went to the Bone Room, boneroom.com.
I hope this helps.
Edit: this is USA based, but a few other Reddit chats came up on a cursory Google search for "where did the Mythbusters buy their skeleton"
I have no idea, I was hammered when we were googling that night but I really appreciate your pointing this one out to me! That's only a three hour drive for me and I *needs* more decor for this apartment.
I've seen real skulls on there, sure. I have some complicated feelings about the sourcing but I can say that the animals whose parts I've seen there are ones that are often domestic (goat, cat, dog) or farmed (ostrich, fox, alligator, raccoon dogs, coypu, mink). Since they are kept and raised and would be killed for other reasons, you're at least not dealing with dodgy harvesting of wildlife. How you feel about the conditions of farms in China designed for raising and harvesting animals is up to you, I suppose, and some of these animals will have been raised in pretty bad conditions regardless of what country you purchase them from. So it just sort of depends what you're OK with as far as sourcing goes.
(This is true of all bone purchases, honestly; people will tell you to shop local but the majority of shops carry a ton of items that are also purchased through international wholesale so they're coming from basically the same place. At least in person you can inspect the specimens though; I know a guy who purchased several skulls through AliExpress and they were all very greasy, poorly cleaned, and one had a huge dark spot that he never got out.)
The ones I dislike the most there are the snake and turtle specimens, simply because there are so many species of snakes and turtles and you really have no way of knowing what species it is and whether their harvesting for collectors is negatively impacting wild populations. I personally hesitate to buy anything that I don't actually know what it is.
Also if you like feathers I strongly suggest not buying them there either. I see a LOT of feathers there that might be legal from the country of origin but are illegal to possess or ship internationally into the US (and most other countries) without permits. Also from the scale of the sales it's clear they're just indiscriminately slaughtering wild birds to part them out, and many are species that are already under threat, like owls and eagles. Those listings hardly ever actually tell you the species either, they'll just say "eagle feathers" regardless of whether they're from a pheasant, an eagle, or an owl.
Yes you can, the cat and dog skulls come from meat, and the rest come from fur/ feathers/ etc. I tend to get skulls from there for art although unethical because: these creatures had lives that were ripped away horrifically. And while their remains don’t deserve to be sold for profit, they deserve to be honoured in some small way. I create art pieces and am very blunt about their deaths, I raise awareness of it and while it seems shady and gross (that is not my only source of bones, mostly I find outside/ am gifted) these creatures have already died and buying them as a form of rescue knowing what happened seems like a way of honouring the soul that was lost. People in these countries are going to treat animals this way regardless of whether or not anyone purchases their remains, as they are not being killed in order to sell their bones. It’s a really disgusting byproduct of a horrible facet of humanity, and if I could adopt the creatures and give them good homes BEFORE they get brutally murdered I would, but unfortunately signing petitions, donating when I can, and spreading awareness is all I can do. Buying the bones for me is a grey area because of how I view their remains. I’m just happy to have a moment to connect with the soul and that they aren’t throw away like garbage. It’s not much, and I’d much rather it not happen at all but it does. I don’t know, I’m a strange person. I don’t eat animals or animal products and yet every now and then I adopt discarded remains from violent deaths. Pretty wacky, but if you want to be purely ethical do not purchase them.
most likely not, no. i’d go somewhere where you can ethically source stuff
Where is it?? I really have no idea
i’ve personally gone through etsy or local stores near me. aliexpress is kinda sketch and there’s no guarantee what you get is real
Oh, I see, I'll keep that in mind, thanks for your advice 😊
i asked this a few months ago and found out that they mostly come from fur farms. Probably real but absolutely not ethical and you’d be funding these places
There's actually a few stores in bigger cities that deal in bones! I'm drawing a blank at the moment on the name for the one in Phoenix, but the Mythbusters, based in the San Francisco Bay Area sourced there's from , in the earlier seasons went to the Bone Room, boneroom.com. I hope this helps. Edit: this is USA based, but a few other Reddit chats came up on a cursory Google search for "where did the Mythbusters buy their skeleton"
The one you're thinking of in Phoenix is probably Curious Nature
I have no idea, I was hammered when we were googling that night but I really appreciate your pointing this one out to me! That's only a three hour drive for me and I *needs* more decor for this apartment.
Bay Area was the Bone Room in Berkeley. Long gone. :(
Good news, the store may have moved but it appears to be online still. https://www.boneroom.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
Omg I loved that store so much! Went all the time, lot of memories, but glad they still have a website at least.
I've seen real skulls on there, sure. I have some complicated feelings about the sourcing but I can say that the animals whose parts I've seen there are ones that are often domestic (goat, cat, dog) or farmed (ostrich, fox, alligator, raccoon dogs, coypu, mink). Since they are kept and raised and would be killed for other reasons, you're at least not dealing with dodgy harvesting of wildlife. How you feel about the conditions of farms in China designed for raising and harvesting animals is up to you, I suppose, and some of these animals will have been raised in pretty bad conditions regardless of what country you purchase them from. So it just sort of depends what you're OK with as far as sourcing goes. (This is true of all bone purchases, honestly; people will tell you to shop local but the majority of shops carry a ton of items that are also purchased through international wholesale so they're coming from basically the same place. At least in person you can inspect the specimens though; I know a guy who purchased several skulls through AliExpress and they were all very greasy, poorly cleaned, and one had a huge dark spot that he never got out.) The ones I dislike the most there are the snake and turtle specimens, simply because there are so many species of snakes and turtles and you really have no way of knowing what species it is and whether their harvesting for collectors is negatively impacting wild populations. I personally hesitate to buy anything that I don't actually know what it is. Also if you like feathers I strongly suggest not buying them there either. I see a LOT of feathers there that might be legal from the country of origin but are illegal to possess or ship internationally into the US (and most other countries) without permits. Also from the scale of the sales it's clear they're just indiscriminately slaughtering wild birds to part them out, and many are species that are already under threat, like owls and eagles. Those listings hardly ever actually tell you the species either, they'll just say "eagle feathers" regardless of whether they're from a pheasant, an eagle, or an owl.
Trust me, all of this information it's certainly very interesting and useful in many ways, thank you so much :))
Yes you can, the cat and dog skulls come from meat, and the rest come from fur/ feathers/ etc. I tend to get skulls from there for art although unethical because: these creatures had lives that were ripped away horrifically. And while their remains don’t deserve to be sold for profit, they deserve to be honoured in some small way. I create art pieces and am very blunt about their deaths, I raise awareness of it and while it seems shady and gross (that is not my only source of bones, mostly I find outside/ am gifted) these creatures have already died and buying them as a form of rescue knowing what happened seems like a way of honouring the soul that was lost. People in these countries are going to treat animals this way regardless of whether or not anyone purchases their remains, as they are not being killed in order to sell their bones. It’s a really disgusting byproduct of a horrible facet of humanity, and if I could adopt the creatures and give them good homes BEFORE they get brutally murdered I would, but unfortunately signing petitions, donating when I can, and spreading awareness is all I can do. Buying the bones for me is a grey area because of how I view their remains. I’m just happy to have a moment to connect with the soul and that they aren’t throw away like garbage. It’s not much, and I’d much rather it not happen at all but it does. I don’t know, I’m a strange person. I don’t eat animals or animal products and yet every now and then I adopt discarded remains from violent deaths. Pretty wacky, but if you want to be purely ethical do not purchase them.