Line #66 Main/DesertSkull


1	[[quoteright:220:[[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ArthurBovineSkull_2013.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:220:A truly bovine find in the desert.]]
3
4	->''"(...I'm just a pile of bleached bones. I can't talk.)"''
5	-->-- '''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin A pile of bleached bones]]''', ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994''
6
7	Whenever a show features or references a desert, savannah or other barren land, odds are good that a bovine cranium will be involved to set the mood. As is often the case, [[NothingButSkulls the rest of the skeleton goes unseen]].
8
9	Often accompanied by [[AllDesertsHaveCacti cacti]]. ThirstyDesert is a companion trope.
10
11	Compare sister tropes RibcageRidge and SinisterDeerSkull.
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
18	* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}''
19	** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasDorabianNights'' have Doraemon and friends stranded in the Arabian Desert and trying to find their way out. When Suneo, Gian and Nobita complains it's pointless to go on, Doraemon tells them they can choose to keep walking or end up like "that" - "that" being a bovine skeleton nearby Doraemon is pointing at. Cue Nobita and gang quickly running.
20	** A bovine skull with bones is literally the first thing that appears in the manga of ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWingedBraves'', which is later revealed to be a documentary watched by Nobita and friends at Suneo's house.
21	* The opening scene of ''Anime/GunXSword'' has Van looking down at an animal skull in the desert and questioning why the creature isn't still alive for him to eat.
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	[[folder:Art]]
25	* Shows up in many Georgia O'Keefe paintings.
26	* Arthur Rothstein's photo series documenting the dust bowl in South Dakota included several of these. It was a scandal at the time because it was pretty obviously the same skull every time (the series was part of a government program documenting the drought). According to the photographer he was just moving a skull he found around the same small area to capture the shadows differently.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Comic Books]]
30	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The desert beyond the edges of the Sangtee Empire slave mining operation on "Hope's End" is littered with skulls and skeletons making attempts to escape out into the desert a less appealing option that it otherwise might be. There are also a few within the mining camp, but not many since the deceased are fed to the scavenger worms.
31	* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': In [[Recap/TintinTheCrabWithTheGoldenClaws "The Crab With the Golden Claws"]], Tintin and Haddock realize they're lost in the middle of the Sahara Desert when Snowy finds a bone... that came from the skeleton of a ''camel'', just to drive home how dire their situation is.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
35	* The owl mariachi band from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' stood on one of these while singing about Rango's journey.
36	* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'': Tiger runs into a buffalo skeleton that seems to come to life when he's not looking. Turns out it's being manipulated by native mice, who then capture Tiger.
37	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King\|1994}}'': As Simba returns to the Pridelands, he finds it riddled with skeletons (wildebeest, elephant, topi, gazelle, you name it) to show how Scar's rule has ruined the land. At the end, as Simba returns to power, there's a brief shot of a skull being washed away by the rain, to symbolize the end of the old regime.
38	* ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' featured a variation of this: since all animals in their world are also vehicles, in the desert surrounding Radiator Springs, there appear to be rusted-up car parts lying among the rocks and cacti.
39	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' - the 'Rite of Spring' segment shows the last of the dinosaurs shuffling into the desert dust - after which the camera pans to and closes in on the skull of the mighty T-Rex.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
43	* ''Film/TheKaiserOfCalifornia'': John Sutter sees a horse skeleton as he walks across the desert, letting him know just how dangerous the ThirstyDesert is. Sure enough, soon after he has to shoot his own horse when it collapses.
44	* ''Film/TheNewLand'': Robert and Arvid get a vivid illustration of just how deep they're in trouble in the ThirstyDesert when they come across the bones of a would-be miner.
45	* ''Film/ThePlowThatBrokeThePlains'', a documentary short about how the Great Plains became the Dust Bowl, includes a shot of a bleached, broken cow skull lying on cracked and dried-out land.
46	* ''Film/TheWinningOfBarbaraWorth'': In fact it's an entire dessicated cow skeleton that Worth sees, underlining the aridity of this part of the desert.
47	* ''Film/ANewHope'': On Tatooine, C-3PO passes by a skull of Krayt Dragon. The prop is actually still there out in the Tunisian Sahara, and is often buried by the sand and rediscovered.
48	* 1946 documentary short ''Film/FacingYourDanger'' shows the river rafters on the Colorado finding what appears to be ''a human skeleton''.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Live Action Television]]
52	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': The skull of an extinct buffalo was found in "Kritch Cave" (in the episode of the same name). Kritch Cave is located in Kritch Canyon, the isolated, tract of barren land behind Madison High School. Kritch Cave is only accessible through the rear of the Madison High School lands; its made inaccessible to the rest of the world by Kritch Mountain (in actuality, a tall hill).
53	* ''Series/{{Readalong}}'': In episode 3, in the image of "lots of room", which is a desert, there's a horned skull half-buried in the sand.
54	* ''Series/WagonTrain'': A desert skull appears in the illustrated opening and closing credits shown seasons one through five.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Literature]]
58	* One of the oldest pop-cultural examples comes from ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet''. Yes, [[Literature/SherlockHolmes that]] ''A Study In Scarlet'', which lends almost half its pagespace to a CowboyEpisode:
59	-->''"Looking down from the Sierra Blanco, one sees a pathway traced out across the desert, which winds away and is lost in the extreme distance... Here and there there are scattered white objects which glisten in the sun, and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali. Approach, and examine them! They are bones: some large and coarse, others smaller and more delicate. The former have belonged to oxen, and the latter to men. For fifteen hundred miles one may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of those who had fallen by the wayside."''
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Music]]
63	* ''Music/{{Voltaire}}'' referenced this in "Fear and Anguish"
64	->''From over the range that is where we found\
65	Scattered on the ground, fifty heads of steer.\
66	But what's real queer;\
67	We searched all around\
68	No other part was found!''
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
72	* Three ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strips had [[CloudCuckoolander Jon]] [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1987/05/25 bring home one of these]], which Garfield then [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset put]] [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1987/05/26 on Odie]], while [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1987/05/27 Jon was talking to his mother on the phone about it]].
73	* In the comic strip ''ComicStrip/BeyondTheBlackStump'', two recurring characters are a pair of skulls out in the desert somewhere who pass the time having odd conversations.
74	* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': One uncaptioned cartoon shows a pair of oxen pulling a covered wagon across the desert, turning their heads as they pass a bovine skull.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
78	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the gambado, a monster originally from the ''Fiend Folio'', that disguises itself as this trope. When revealed, they appear as one-legged humanoids with sharp claws and either an animal or human skull for a head.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Toys, Games, Collectibles]]
82	* The Matchbox/Revell [[http://quoyle.net/builds/Matchbox/PanzerIIIAusfL/PanzerIIIAusfL-08.jpg kit of the WW2 German Panzer III tank]] comes with a display base to mount the completed tank kit; it depicts a North African desert sand-dune, with the tank posed as breasting the crest of the sand. Just to emphasise the point this is an Afrika Korps panzer, there is a bleached animal skull to set artistically into the modelled sand.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Video Games]]
86	* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', this shows up as a furniture item in the "American West/frontier" set. [[FurryConfusion Sometimes animals who are cows have them in their homes...]]
87	* ''VideoGame/BloodWest'' contains plenty of bovine skulls on poles all over the game, and they're capable of speaking since they're inhabited by Native American spirits. The first NPC you spoke to in the first level is in fact one such skull.
88	* The GameOver screen of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' features a wasteland with what appears to be the skeleton of a dragon, [[ItsAWonderfulFailure possibly as a glimpse of a world where Dracula is allowed to roam free]].
89	* ''VideoGame/DynaGear'' have gigantic dinosaur skulls in the desert levels, which can be destroyed to reveal coins or bonuses.
90	* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', you can actually have a conversation with a cattle skeleton in the Dusty Dunes Desert. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial It, of course, claims otherwise]].
91	* Appears multiple times throughout the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series, natch. [[AlasPoorYorick It's not always a cow skull, though...]]
92	* The Western-themed arcade game, ''VideoGame/HeatedBarrel'', have shootouts in the desert against Red Indians, where the level will have assorted cattle skulls and bones decorating the area.
93	* ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' had all sorts of bones and skulls in the randomly generated desert terrain tiles.
94	* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'''s Sand Zone is full of bones... including [[DemBones animated ones]].
95	* The standard ''VideoGame/{{Clonk}}'' desert scenarios contain, along with [[AllDesertsHaveCacti cacti]], animal skulls as decoration.
96	* ''VideoGame/{{Eets}}'' uses this as decoration for desert-themed levels.
97	* These can be found in the desert levels of the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games. Rare items can be dug up in the nearby sands.
98	* There's a giant wraid skull on Tatooine in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''. Click it at your own risk - it summons a World Boss.
99	* There's plenty of skeletal remains for you to explore in the Western Desert from ''VideoGame/AvalonCode''. In a particular area, you find what appears to be the skeleton of a dragon, as well as the skeleton of the knight who failed to slay said dragon and the skeleton of the princess devoured by said dragon.
100	* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', you can find a skull of an [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Unknown_Creature unknown creature]] on a desert planet Maji.
101	* ''Videogame/MonsterHunter'': If you find the massive skull of a Monoblos or Diablos in the desert, beware! A [[GiantEnemyCrab Daimyo Hermitaur]] may be using it for a shell. In an ecology cutscene shown in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2Dos'', we see a group of Felyne merchants learn this the hard way.
102	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
103	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons'': You can find a human skull (a former pirate) in the desert who you need to carry around over your head until he spots the particular quicksand pit you need to progress. [[JumpScare He does so by suddenly chattering his teeth.]]
104	** A few also turn up in the Gerudo desert in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''.
105	* [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' with Bone-Dry Dunes, which contain a RibcageRidge, a gigantic Dry Bowser skull, skeletal Piranha Plants, and Dry Bones.
106	* In ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'', cattle skulls spawn around the Desert. Being set after the apocalypse, they're ''mutant'' cattle - four eyes sockets instead of two.
107	* ''VideoGame/OrientalLegend'' have the stage in the desert outside the Mount of Flames, with gigantic skulls which you can smash for objects and points.
108	* The Dusty Valley in ''VideoGame/IgglePop'' is an arid desert which is littered with skulls.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Webcomics]]
112	* Ed from ''Webcomic/CoyoteVille'' is a desert skull who can converse and interact with the rest of the cast.
113	* ''Webcomic/PoisonIvyGulch'': Ace [[http://www.poisonivygulch.com/comic/poison-ivy-gulch-1-17-2022/ finds one]] and even lampshades it.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Web Original]]
117	* One is seen, [[AllDesertsHaveCacti alongside the inevitable cacti]], in the opening illustration of the ''Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'' short story ''The Labors of Juliet'', where Juliet is exiled in a desert.
118	* In ''PioneerTrail'' (formerly ''VideoGame/FrontierVille''), these keep popping up on disused parts of your homestead.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Western Animation]]
122	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has these, except some of them seem to be skulls of ''aquatic'' animals.
123	* At the top of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLb2dcHNjKc "Feeling Flush,"]] there's an ImagineSpot where the kids are walking through the desert. The very first shot we see is of a skull.
124	* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny:
125	** [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset Bugs wears one]] in the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "WesternAnimation/TheWackyWabbit".
126	** In another ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunnyGetsTheBoid'', Bugs falls into a hole next to some cow bones, and he briefly thinks the bones are his. Later, he tricks Killer the Buzzard into thinking the same.
127	* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' episode "[[Recap/BojackHorsemanS4E02TheOldSugarmanPlace The Old Sugarman Place]]". As Bojack drives through a desert, we see a cow skull with the rest of the skeleton still attached...and it has a wristwatch on its arm, sunglasses in its palm, and the remnants of clothing on its body.
128	* ''WesternAnimation/FlowersAndTrees'' has a rare non-desert example. The evil tree lives in a dead patch of the forest which has the skull of a cow (or some similar animal) on the ground.
129	* The season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' sees Peggy's [[HollywoodSkydiving parachute fail to deploy while skydiving]], causing her to crash-land in a barren mud plain. As Hank and other first responders desperately comb the mud for Peggy, [[TheDitz Luanne breaks down sobbing]] when she finds a [[https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F3t6672767n761.jpg sun-bleached cow skull]], which she assumes is all that remains of her aunt.
130	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Over a Barrel" a generic bovine skull can be seen during a brief shot of a desert around Appleloosa, [[FurryConfusion even though not only are the bovines established to be sentient in this series, but the very episode in question revolves around a native tribe of buffaloes who inhabit these lands]].
131	* ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' comes across one of these while lost in the desert in the first act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E13GoodSportBogus Good Sport Bogus]]".
132	* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Road to Danville", Dr. Doofenshmirtz [[LampshadeHanging asks this right out]]: "Why do we always see cow skulls in the desert? And why do you only see the skull? Did the body die somewhere else? It makes no sense."
133	* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', after becoming frustrated with his anthropomorphic food processor (and failing to get rid of it), the food processor attacks Spunky. Rocko decides that this is the last straw, and drives the food processor out into the desert and abandons it there. The food processor walks past a cow skull. It also leaves some bones behind after it eats a vulture.
134	* WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants's ancestor [=SpongeBuck=] envisions two cow skulls talking to him in the episode "Pest of the West" when he's banished to the desert.
135	* In the ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'' episode "The Road", a young Ice Bear is seen [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset wearing one of these as a hat]] after he and his brothers get lost in the desert.
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Other]]
139	* Check out any zoo's exhibits of desert reptiles or arachnids. Odds are ''very'' good that at least one hollow ceramic DesertSkull will be on display, as the den for a lizard, snake, scorpion, or tarantula.
140	* In US currency, the reverse side of the 2007 Montana state quarter dollar coin shows the skull of a bison.
141	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DesertSkull