Why is it more common to find skulls of dead animals standalone rather than skulls and their skeletons?

Question

Why is it more common to find skulls of dead animals standalone rather than skulls and their skeletons?

In: 150

Answer 1

Necks are mostly soft tissue. So it’s likely for that to be eaten or to decompose first. That leaves a heavy skull/head dangling on a pretty fragile few vertebrae between it and the torso. Those are easy for scavengers to separate. Skulls by themselves aren’t very easy to chew on. They’re also pretty round so unless they’re resting on a flat surface even in the absence of animals it’s likely to detach and roll away from deteriorating from the environment over time.