Watching Eagles and Boiling Bones

I saw an eagle perched in the tree. I adjusted my scope and the eagle was gone—flown away while I averted my eyes for less than a minute. I adjusted my scope onto the nest, blinked my eyes, and there sat two eagles side by side. I watched for an hour and a half as one eagle, who I later learned was the female, prepared the nest, with the other helping in a desultory fashion, occasionally moving larger sticks. The female arranged the nest, pulling and rearranging tufts of material in a methodical clockwise pattern. More copulation followed, after which the two perched close together.

Then I went home and boiled bones. Earlier in the year, I found portions of jawbones, long and slender with no developed canines. I believe the bones came from an antelope, for many populate the area where I was hiking. The teeth are whole and uncracked, and also coated with tarter, all possible indicators of the animal’s health and age, if I knew how to read them. One molar hadn’t erupted, but I could see it underneath the material that loosened as I submerged one bone segment in hot water and scrubbed at it gently with my thumb, peeling away the tight layer of membrane called the periosteum, which provides blood supply to bones. Do antelope have wisdom teeth?