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It has been a few years since I posted an update on my woolly rhino composite skeleton. Due to regulation change, not a whole lot of bones are fished out of the North Sea these days. So I haven't gotten many new bones in recent years. But last week I got a whole bunch of extra bones so I got the rhino out of the many boxes I have it stored in for the most time and so it's time for another progress update. For those who've missed my previous posts. I have been collecting wooly rhino (coelodonta antiquitatis) bones for over a decade now ever since I got a few leg bones for my birthday. One thing spiraled into another and before I knew it I was trying to make a complete skeleton. Almost all the bones are from the North Sea where only isolated bones are ever found. So none of the bones have any context, which is why a composite skeleton is the only option. Of course this brings it's own problems, besides spending years trying to find all the correct bones, but also getting bones that actually match nicely. So some bones aren't an exact match but every once in a while I replace bones that don't match that good with better ones. And by now I have just over a hundred bones plus change for the extra bones I have doubles for. The skeleton is quite massive. Woolly rhinos were around the same size as modern African rhinos. Carrying over a hundred rhino bones up and down the stairs was also a good workout The only bone that isn't real is the skull, which is a replica cast. Only two bones come from different locations, one from a quarry in the Netherlands and the other from Hungary. All the other bones come from the North Sea. The neck is complete and I'm only missing one dorsal vertebra. I've got a partial sacrum with the front missing. I don't have any tail vertebrae. I've got a few ribs but not nearly enough and two large hip fragments. I've got all the big long bones except for the fibulae and one shoulder blade. By now I've got the hands fairly complete. I've got all the wrist bones, all the metacarpals. The phalanges however are harder to get and I don't have any unguals. On the hind legs I now also recently got the kneecaps as well as a few missing ankle bones. I'm only missing two ankle bones on both feet. I got all the metatarsals and the phalanges here are a similar story, I have the first phalanges, and one of the second. But again, no unguals. A beautiful humerus that now replaced a less complete dinky humerus. Left front hand of the rhino and my right foot for scale. And lastly there's this really nice nasal fragment where the horn would attach in life. It's just a small fragment, but the preservation is really quite nice. Some of the sutures can also be seen really nicely.

Hi everyone, this will be the first of several ID requests this week as I'm getting around to sorting through and packing away my fossils from my trip out west and there are plenty of oddities. However, the first piece I'll post does not come from the dry American west, rather from the bottom of the North Sea in the Brown Banks area. I got this "coelodonta toe bone" yesterday at the East Coast Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show and wanted to make sure it was a correct identification and not something like bison, aurochs or horse. It's just under 3 inches long and over an inch wide.