Getting under the skin with animal skulls

The Yellowhead Flyway Birding Trail Association wants kids to take a closer look at the world outside, and they’re always looking at different things that might get kids interested. Eldon Breitkreuz touring libraries in the area with something unique to catch kids’ eyes, skulls.

Breitkreuz brought a variety of skulls with him to the Yorkton Public Library on July 26, with bones belonging to a lynx, a pronghorn antelope, a coyote and a bison. They use the skulls as a way in, to talk to kids about the animals where they come from.

“The more people know about it, the more likely they are to do something about protecting these species.”

Getting skulls in front of kids, Breitkreuz admits there is a bit of a creepy factor that the kids respond to, since they are bones, but it’s also something that’s very rare to see and get to interact with close up.

“It’s super rare to find some of these skulls... Kids being able to see how, under the skin, these animals work, I think they find it really neat.”

This is part of a summer full of educational outreach for the YFBTA, with visits to libraries across the Parkland region. The YFTBA will be back at the Yorkton Public Library on August 9 to teach about owls.