Skull Id

Hard to tell from those pics but I would agree with you based on what I can see

 

Need to see photos straight on from the side and straight down on it from above. Angle shots don't help. I would also guess a cougar. Also be aware of scams. If they can't send you better positioned pictures .. they don't have it to take pictures of.

 

Also, beware of anyone trying to sell a skull who doesn't know how to articulate the cranium and mandible!

 

There is a key photo that they could have sent you: the TAG!!!!!!

That looks like the kind of tags that go on many North American animals. I've never seen one on an African specimen (though I'm sure someone has!). (Don't some NA jurisdictions remove that premolar for genetics or something like that?)

Also, by the proportions, it looks much more like a puma than a leopard. Leopards are relatively longer (this one has a bit of a short face; squarer palate). Also, I think there is a difference in the canines (though I don't have the measurements right now to prove it) where leopard canines seem longer and thinner and those seem more robust.

From those terrible pictures, I'd bet its a puma.

 

Have to agree. It's a cougar.The skull is the wrong shape. Not long enough for a leopard.

 

mountain lion, cougar not lepord

 

I was thinking same thing. What does the tag say? Does look like NA tag and most I've seen say what it is on the tag.

Robert

 

The tag is most likely a taxidermist ID tag when it was sent to be cleaned. No state that I know of seals/tags a cougar skull. The cities tag is attached to the hide. Combined with the missing premolar it suggests that it is a cougar skull.