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Was out hunting yesterday. At the end, my hunting partner asked if I could ID this bone. Almost immediately I said it was a marine mammal petrosal from a large whale. Now all I had to do was get some TFF whale experts @Boesse @Harry Pristis to agree. Looking around , I found a research paper on a North Carolina pygmy sperm whale with lots of good pictures... While starting to make comparisons, I did not that this PDF petrosal was about 30 mm at its widest points... This petrosal from Florida measures at 56.7 mm at its widest point. I think but am not sure I have all of this petrosal. It might be bigger.. If this is a tooth whale petrosal from Florida, my knowledge is limited to Kogiopsis and Scaldicetus... Obviously there is the size question, but also I am having difficulty matching up my photos with the pictures of Kogiopsis in the PDF.. All comments and suggestions appreciated, Jack EDITED to add a great TFF thread that relates http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/91729-composition-of-whale-teeth/ and a couple of more TFF experts @abyssunder @ynot @Al Dente There are photos of Kogio Petrosals in this thread...

I have missed fossil hunting most of the last month with rains making the rivers and creeks too deep, travel north and other commitments. So today , I went out with frequent hunting companion, Steve. Steve sells many of his better fossils, but he knows that I focus on small horses and marine mammal. When he finds one of those, he may give it to me, and I decided how much it is worth. I had a very good day, but Steve had a better one. and he gave me this 3+ inch whale tooth. At 1st I thought it had an enamel tip, which would have been really surprising. So, cementum flaked off, almost everything remaining is dentine. Found in Southwest Florida, this tooth is almost certainly Kogiopsis .sp (Dwarf Sperm Whale). I am wondering about a couple of fossil questions: 1) Does anyone have insights on the disappearing cementum process. Is it chemical based or possibly time based? I have found teeth that retain ALL cementum and others which have no cementum. . This tooth is highly unusual because it seems to have been calcified ?, or agatized ? or something during fossilization. Only the 2nd whale tooth I have ever seen like this.Once again, what process occurs during the fosslization to crystalize or semi_crystalize the fossil. Thanks for any and all insights.

Hi everyone! I want to introduce some new additions to my teeth collections. 1. Nodosaur tooth from Judith River Formation This tooth is from Hill Co. Montana. Has nice set of serrations, and 10 mm wide. There are two genus of Nodosaur known from Judith River F. : Edmontonia and Palaeoscincus, thus, this is a Nodosaurid indet. 2. Pygmy sperm whale (Kogiopsis) tooth from Hawthorn Formation This tooth has no tip, but have enamel and root. This is slightly larger than 3 inches.

I really like going out hunting... the thrill of the instant of finding something unique is pure joy and I like to relive that joy over and over, so I take lots of photos. I also have a lot of hunting techniques and many do not require a shovel and sieve. For example , I go to fossil shows and local fossil club auctions, and sometimes I trade and even purchase occasional fossils. So here is a hunting technique.. I live in a fossil rich area of the world.. There is all sorts of stuff here in central and southwest florida, including the gulf of mexico, bone valley , the Peace River, etc. I just put out the word to fossil friends, fossil dealers, hunting buddies, that I am very interested in some specific types of fossils (whale, sloth, small horses included) and if they happen to come across any of that in their wanderings, give me an opportunity to acquire them. That is IT... Over time , it is amazing the number of "damaged fossils" I am gifted!!! and some of those damaged fossils are pretty good. The above is just background to what occurred yesterday. I went "normal hunting" to the Peace River on Sunday and found a bunch of small shark teeth, a few excellent hemis and tigers, a nice Bison lower tooth, an unerupted horse tooth, a 3 plate chunk of mammoth tooth, assorted turtle spurs and footpads. A good day but not fantastic. However, my other method of hunting really paid off... My normal hunting partner got wind of a relative of a friend who had the leftovers of his father's collection of mostly bone valley fossils from 20 years ago... and some were broken whale teeth... Was I interested ???? Do bears live in the woods??? The bucket had 30 fossils 2 half dollar sized shark verts, 1 dolphin tooth, 1 small croc scute, and 27 partial to almost complete whale teeth. Most were dusty and needed some cleaning, but I was only offering about $7 per fossil and I had already seen at least 5 that were very attractive... Here are 2 of those: This 1st is a sperm whale tooth (note the tip and shape), a relative rarity in South Florida, and will fit very well in a display of the only sperm whale tooth I have ever found in the Peace river. The 2nd one is Kogiopsis .sp. I have found these before, and while not as good as my best, it is pretty close.... Length of each tooth is approx 4.25 inches. This last tooth has the tip shaved on 2 of 3 sides from grinding against the tooth/teeth in the opposite jaw... Definitely belongs in my collection... A great day for alternate hunting techniques.

It has been a very hectic end of the year with many events both positive and negative taking my focus away from fossil hunting. I have been blessed in those instances when I can go out. I only have a day left this year and I am wondering whether I will brave the temperatures. I have a LOT of motivation. Yesterday I went to a new special location "gifted" by a fossil friend about 5 weeks ago. It has a lot going for it, in addition to high quality fossils and a good friend to hunt with.... We even had a sunshiny day. There are some heavy concentrations of surface gravel but the higher quality material is down 3-4 feet below the surface gravel, the karst, sand, on the clay. It is a lot of work, and I don't find a lot of fossil quantity but....I have been finding one of these about every 12-18 months and I know that is lucky because my hunting companions digging right next to me have not found them. There is no determinate identification for this whale, because usually one finds isolated teeth. I found a 4 inch diameter vert... 3 feet away from the tooth. I do realize this means almost nothing...but I am becoming curious on the lack of larger fossil sperm whale teeth available in North Florida and Georgia. Another photo that shows an oddity that I had not previously realized: This tooth is worn down by constant abrasion with the tooth above/below it and it even seems that the other side is also slightly worn. I had seen this phenomenon in Cat, Sloth, peccary, etc but not previously in whale. Yesterday was a great fossil day --- I will have the memory and joy of finding