Search the Community

Went Hunting today , 3rd time in 5 days. I am aching but heading North and my next opportunity will be April 11th. Clear water, lots of gravel, some fossils... Got a couple of more Turtle "Peace Signs", but 2 of these finds are excellent: No roots, no dentin, no cementum... just enamel... @Balance Well Jp, you know something about horses. What can you tell me about the horse that owned this tooth? and here is a 2nd tooth, same thing No roots, No dentin, No Cementum.... just enamel. and found in my 2nd last sieve.. I love late finds... keeping me digging. and this is a Big tooth.... Note that the chewing surface is barely touched and look at the detail that remains... You never see this kind of detail except when the animal died shortly after the tooth emerged.. I am not sure this one is deciduous but it is clearly unusual and close to perfect... Enjoy.

I found a fossil bone on January 9th, 2024 at a location that produces majority Blancan fauna fossils. I decided to give this fossil its own thread because 1) In 15 years hunting Peace River and Bone Valley, I have not seen a bone remotely like it, 2) I want to leave some "bread crumbs" detailing what I have learned since finding it. What can I determine by examining the find? At first glance I thought it was the broken tip of a rib. It is not. It does have a "bone" texture which is rather unique. There is a horizontal crisp ridge line running the 80 mm length of the fossil. There is a knob like feature on the proximal end. Width 20 mm, broken (thankfully) on the underside . About 3-4 mm in from the outer edge there is a longitudinal canal running the length of the find ending just to the right of the knob. If you look closely, there is an parallel canal 2-3 mm from the opposite edge running to the left side of the knob. Lets take a closer look at the left side of the knob. An exit hole for the canal near the tip, and 3 foramina holes which sometimes are seen on the outside of a jaw to transport fluids/veins/nerves. However , this is not a jaw , its shape is wrong. So this is where I start searching the internet for a bone representing fauna in my search area that is 20 mm in diameter and likely 100-150 mm in length with a knob at the end... After a while.... Once I start finding Baculum, my searches get better... I need something around 20 mm diameter... I have to figure out which end is proximal, and what about that knob.. Armand_de_Montlezun(1841_1914)_Baculum_Melursus_ursinus Polar Bear Baculum study == Length 190 mm average, width 18.7 mm average.... I realize that I need a Large bear to match the diameter on my fossil find... From the UF Paleonlology Database... Amphicyon longiramus Baculum.. Note the groves on each side leading to the proximal end of this Baculum, also the ridge along the top.. "Amphicyon is an extinct genus of large carnivorans belonging to the family Amphicyonidae, subfamily Amphicyoninae, from the Miocene epoch. Members of this family received their vernacular name for possessing bear-like and dog-like features. " Amphicyonids encompass a wide variety of carnivorous mammal ecomorphologies that are today filled by canids and ursids (Figuerido et al., 2011). Like modern carnivores, many species of bear-dogs (including Amphicyon longiramus) were highly sexually dimorphic (Hunt, 1998; Figs. 2-3), with males being much larger than females. Another quote from UFMNH: Characteristic species for the Blancan in Florida: Trachemys platymarginata, Anabernicula gracilenta, Melagris anza or M. leopoldi, Dasypus bellus, Holmesina floridanus, Pachyarmatherium leiseyi, Paramylodon harlani, Eremotheirum eomigrans, Phugatherium dichroplax, Canis edwardii, Arctodus pristinus, Smilodon gracilis, Xenosmilus hodsonae, Hemiauchenia macrocephala, Equus (Plesippus) sp., Tapirus haysii, Cuvieronius tropicus, and Mammut americanum. Note that Arctodus pristinus, Lesser short face Bear, Arctodus in Wikipedia. "There is much variation in adult size among specimens- the lack of finds, sexual dimorphism, individual variation and potentially ecomorphs could be augmenting the average size of both species of Arctodus.[2][7][49] Size differences between specimens of Arctodus simus (such as skull and long bone dimensions) led Kurtén to suggest a larger northern/central subspecies (A. s. yukonensis) and a southern subspecies (A. s. simus).[43][7][35] evolving in the Irvingtonian and Rancholabrean respectively.[35][7] However, the discovery of a very large southern Arctodus simus in Florida and New Mexico (deep within the supposed range of A. s. simus),[19][50] & possibly Rancho La Brea,[7] and notably small specimens from the Yukon and Vancouver Island,[16][17] put doubt on this designation.[51] Perceived ecomorphologies are possibly due to the low number of specimens, and sex-biased sampling.[19] For example, only one baculum ( bone) has been recovered from over 100 giant short-faced bear sites in North America (Potter Cave). I tracked down Potter Creek Cave in Shasta county and got this photo of human tools found within the cave... Item #1 seems very similar to a large Bear Baculum. I have come to the end of the search without an Identification of a unusual find. That sometimes happens. I can always wait and hope that another fossil hunter finds a similar unusual bone.

Had a great day hunting Friday and decided to hunt the Peace River before the Super bowl yesterday with my friend Steve. I love grabbing a shovel and sieve and just walk into the River. Perfect depth, about 2 inches above my waist. I had another good day as you check my finds below. Steve had a great day! In his 1st sieve, 3 shovel of gravel he found one of those pointy rocks we hear about, followed by a copper button, and then a Meg. He found a Giant Tortoise hoof core and a Tail Buckler. I did not get photos of the rest, but at the end he found a small jaw with 2 teeth I did not recognize. Here are my prizes.. A few flecks of Druzy scattered here and there... A miniture Armadillo Osteoderm.. This is the smallest I have ever seen and look at the patina... I love this one... Followed by a real rarity for me.... an Armadillo front tooth... There is a lot of variety. Here is some of it. I hope that @Harry Pristis can provide an ID on this small premolar.. The size would indicate a small animal. To me, there are always surprises in hunting the Peace.

I decided to separate the 2 finds here from my finds from Saturday. One is pretty enough to have its own thread.. This is a upper jaw section of Hemiauchenia macrocephala from the University of Florida Vertebrate Paleontology Database. M3, M2, M1 upper right maxilla Here is almost my best find Saturday... As I picked it out of the sieve, I knew it was an upper jaw camelid, most likely Hemiauchenia. I took it over to my kayak and snapped a couple of photos. I have been educated , mostly by Harry in other threads to recognize 100 % enamel teeth (no dentine or cementum) and what that means... In this case, an young adult camel has a barely erupted tooth, still in the process of growing roots, when it was likely killed by a predator a couple of million years ago. (I like to imagine stories). Look at the 2nd last tooth ... all enamel, a bare hint of root... Initially I thought this might be the M2, but looking at this last photo, comparing to the UF 271830 jaw, I switched to the M3.. Can you see why? I sent it to Richard Hulbert last night asking insight on the filigree pattern. I said "almost" above... There is a broken fragment of a tooth that I almost tossed (NEVER toss anything you do not recognize as a rock). Serrations on a 50 mm fragment !!!! That gets my imagination going. While Megs are all over Florida, there has never been a fragment found at this location.. It is not impossible that a Meg might have wandered in to an unlikely location.. Another possibility is Great White.. We have found some small GWs, but none over 2 inches.. This would be from a max sized GW... So , shark experts could tell me what they know about serrations from larger sharks. these look uniform . exact same size... and if someone does not recognize this as Meg or GW there is yet another possibility of large teeth with serrations...

Out hunting Monday. The days of the year are passing quickly. Here is a place that is more likely early Pleistocene, where it is possible to collect the transition of horse teeth. I found many small shark teeth including Hemipristis, Mako, Bull , Dusky, and large G cuvier Tigers.. It is always enjoyable to pick up 5 or 6 from a sieve when other fossils are less frequent. Here are those other fossils. It is a mixture of some bones ( Calcaneum, long leg bone) I would like to identify, some broken fossils (Glyptodont, Armadillo, Mammoth) , even some curious looking rocks (toss in the sieve, investigate later).. some fossils from the seas that used to cover Florida.... Just sharing what falls into my sieve... My last 5 times out, I have been finding 1 really nice upper Hemi. Here is Monday's entry (above).... but I gave this thread the title of Horses A wolf tooth (Canine present in Stallions, helpful for fighting other Stallions for a female)... These are pretty rare find for me, maybe once a year and this one is kind of distinctive, narrow, longer than normal A broken tridactly horse upper tooth, probably Nannippus peninsulatus. I really love finding these... Takes me back to great fossil hunting memories. Then a very small Non tridactyl tooth... I wonder if this is the transitional horse that @fossillarry occasionally references. They all look like Equus, but it is the small size that is grabbing my attention. and then a couple of more normal sized Equus Teeth... that are 26 and 27 APL respectively Enjoy....

It was pretty cool yesterday. As a youth, I used to swim in Vermont quarries. But having been in Florida for 20+ years, I define cool differently. As I stepped out of my truck at 6:45 am, it was 57 degrees Fahrenheit and I was about to go swimming. I am not completely crazy. I had my 5mm shorty wetsuit on. Very successful day, Slow to start, moved twice and then consistent finds. A couple of Notes: There is a row or 2 of Tigers and 3-4 rows of Bull _ Dusky teeth those species dominate here. I pick up a some interesting bones to Identify later.... The Makos (55 and 41 mm) and lower Hemi (45 mm) were definitely appreciated. Tiger shark teeth are as large as I find anywhere. This might be P. contortus. Then this Osteoderm on the right, compared to Alligator... I almost tossed it away... but then I thought it could be Crocodile.... There is a cluster of 5 mostly whole or partial Horse teeth... They are the primary request for Identification or comments.. #1 #2 #3 Really beaten up Tridactyl,, Pretty.. need to stare at it to see if I can find the protocone. High Majority of Tridactyl Horses here are N peninsulatus #4 Almost all there... I think an Id is possible... #5 Lots missing... may be Equus.. lower partial All comments and suggestions appreciated... Jack @fossillarry

Years ago I frequently hunted an isolated productive site with a good friend on Saturday because he was consumed with a day job. I returned to that site today and had one of my more successful recent hunts. He just happened to decide to return to the same general vicinity today and we met and hunted together for the 1st time in 20 months. It was fun .. As fossil hunters sometimes do, we talked about those Glory days years ago, when the finds were numerous and hunting was easy.. I do not have time today, tomorrow to photo and discuss finds. But I'll show a photo confirming the finds and ask for an ID on 2 of them. 1st the Camelid tooth possibly with a pathology. I believe it to be a lower left m3. and there are only 2 choices in Florida. Palaeolama mirafica or Hemiauchenia macrocephala. 2nd is also a tooth, and I am thinking Sloth... I have seen a lot of Sloth teeth and pushed I would say Harlans. Is this tooth pathological ? Which end is the chewing surface? What is the semi_pointed thing sticking out the right side ? I always feel blessed finding unusual fossils... Jack

Unusual for a Saturday, I went hunting. Took this photo about 90 minutes in ... not too bad 3 nice Makos, and a couple of larger hemis. I did not find as much variety the rest of the day. This thread is not about what I found, but what I saw. I have Kayaked rivers and streams , upstream and downstream 100s of times... I note the antics of the birds.. when I arrive one scene. Some like Vultures, Hawks, Owls see me/my kayak and head into the woods away from the river; Most little birds are oblivious... they ignore me. The Ibis, ducks and Herons are usually feeding on the shoreline. trying to catch a meal.. Mostly they continue eating until the nose of my kayak reaches their latitude and they take off initially in the direction that the kayak nose is pointing. They repeat this not more than 3-4 times and then on the 5th reoccurrence , they take off and then fly into the woods or much more likely , fly directly over my head, back to where they came from.... But Kingfishers repeat this behavior MORE than others up to 7 times in my experience.. Did I tell you, I really like Kingfishers best.. I have noted when they dive into water trying for a fish and indeed have enjoyed watching them catch fish many times... but never when they are leading me up or down stream. Today the distance I was kayaking was over 3 miles by river , maybe more.. It used to take me about 2 hours up and 15 minutes less with the current.. but I am getting older and slower... Today a belted Kingfisher joined me almost immediately as I started back to my truck. I think it was one of the bigger males I had ever seen.... they can grow to 13 inches Generally, these are solitary birds and they are territorial, constantly chasing other Kingfishers away. You will know that a Kingfisher is your area by their constant loud call, which sounds much like a machine gun! So, I was about 40 feet away, when I heard that Machine gun call, looked up to see a female (?) on a dead branch and she immediately launches heading downstream... This behavior was repeated 18 times in the next 2 hours... When I would come into view, she just sat there, when I would approach within 20-25 feet, machine gun call, launch , gone. After a couple, I felt she was waiting for me, and started yelling "King Fisher, King Fisher and doing a poor imitation of a whistle..., did not make a difference.. as I got close to 20-25 feet , she launched. I could slow down her launching by going slower....or so it seemed .. At occurrence 15 or 16, I thought I lost her... Upon launching. she took off directly into the woods...!!!! But it was a right S curve and as I navigated the curve , there she was , waiting for me... Occurrence #18... She landed on a branch of a tree directly over my morning launch site, and as I closed to 20 feet, repeated her call and launched downstream.. Please to anyone who has insight to bird behavior, please explain what was going on and why... why would she spend over 2 hours today with me.. ? I had a GREAT day.. There is nothing better than communicating with a Kingfisher....

Went out Hunting both Wednesday and Thursday. Already posted Thursday finds. This was a trip back to my happy place, not huntable during the summer rains. To me this hunting trip challenges the conventional wisdom about going home again. Although I have sorted out most broken shark teeth, this is a fair representation of types of teeth 60% Bull or Dusky, 25% Tiger cuvier, 10 % Lemons. There are lots of broken bones, I collected some that I think I might want to identify. There is a lot of whale jaw... here is an example with some bite marks. I make an assumption that these are shark bites, but possibly someone with more knowledge can confirm. Land predators might leave different scars. I used to not recognize these but then Bobby identified them for me in a thread years ago ... and they are rare enough so I always keep them... Staying in the marine mammal finds, an overly worn tooth Some infrequent finds here... There are a couple of Alligator teeth and a nice scute in the photo, but Crocodile is rare... Likely a Glyptodont edge osteoderm Not sure what this one of a kind is... Reminds me of one of Harry's shrimp burrows in miniature. 2 Complete bones. The longer , thinner one is a Proximal Phalanx from Hemiauchenia gracilis, a Blancan fauna that helped me age this location years ago. Below is a research paper photo of 3 Proximal Phalanx of H. gracilis. The top 2 was within the range of 80-85 mm in length. and the caption that the muscle attachments on the proximal end resemble a "W".... The 2nd bone is an Equus Proximal Phalanx.. I found 6 Horse teeth... 4 Equus and 2 Tridactly , one lower , one upper.. The lower I recognize.. it is Nannippus peninsulatus, one of the smallest and most recent Florida Tridactyl Horse that existed in the late Pliocene (Florida Blancan Land mammal age) The other small horse tooth is a badly damaged upper. It does seems to be Nannippus, and that is why I'll try to Identify it . @fossillarry Measurements of the find are APL 11 mm, TRW 10 mm, Crown Height 30 mm. Since this find is missing about 20 % of the tooth, the APL is more likely 13-14 mm Here is an Upper Nannippus Molar to compare APL 11 x 15 x 49 mm. Enjoy, As always suggestions and comments are always appreciated.

I went to my happy place again today. Not the volume of finds from last Wednesday. Early I found this 11.2 x 7.8 cm bone. Is it a pelvic bone ? an Atlas Vertebra ? a skull cap ? I have no clue. I am pretty certain that I do not have a bone like this in my body and I know that I have never found one previously. Hopefully someone recognizes it... @Harry Pristis @Boesse @digit

It had been 10 days since I went hunting, and that is bad for not being able to enjoy my favorite pastime and the pure lack of exercise. I had been up North for over 2 weeks in July. Each day fossil hunting is lots of exercise , paddling a kayak, shoveling gravel for 5-6 hours almost non_stop. So yesterday was a day hunting independent of conditions.. We picked a spot where we have hunted over and over again for 5 years... and it always produces no matter how much we take out.. I did not find very much, but Steve did, a number of Megs, a couple of horse teeth, He said on one sieve he found 37 small shark teeth. My spot was not as productive, and somewhat hard to deal with, fast water, pretty deep... I average 6 sieves an hours and usually we are there for 5 hours, If I average 7 small shark teeth an hour, === 200 + There are 206 small teeth in the photo below... and this was not a particularly a productive day. So getting down to the better items: I found 3 marine mammal bullas, a horse tooth, a tapir cap, some Meg and Mammoth Frags, distal end of a Sea Turtle humerus... Lower Equus tooth in decent shape is interesting , a little different chewing surface, like a p2. A broken Hyplural, a rostral tooth, tapir cap, puffer fish mouthplate, gar scale, silicified seashell, and of the 3 bulla, I like the smallest one best...Do not know if it identifiable, but I have time. As the finds get less plentiful, I get interested in whatever comes along... Here is a broken off Mammoth root, that I can use to identify other found in the river.. I also grabbed that bone in upper left just so I would have something to identify when I am not out hunting. I was worn and weary last night, but feeling much better, much stronger today... Therapeutic.

Out hunting today, Found lots of different fossils, most of which I knew. I thought I knew this Osteoderm from the edge of the carapace, but my friend disagreed . Unusual after hunting together for the last 10 years. I decided to let TFF decide. Armadillo or Glyptodont and why? Found a variety of teeth, most broken and worn. Megs, Equus, Tapir, Camel, Mastodon, Mammoth, Tridactly, Whale, Baracuda.... Makes for an exciting day. Here are some of them..... Certainly , in the Peace river, you never know what you are going to get... At the end of the day, we had a visitor, who decided to sit on my friend's discard pile pretending to be a rock or a leaf blowing in the wind. Refused to leave until after we did. This one was rocking to the music, dancing in the breeze...

Went out yesterday for an unusual weekend trip.. I had a week long trip to Northeast Florida, and thus missed some of this precious hunting time, before the summer storms arrive and fill the river to its banks. Since my hunting partner had missed hunting for the week, he wanted to go out yesterday and tomorrow. Just being accommodating plus I love being in the river. Here are my finds for the day, sorting out the vast majority of small shark teeth. I showed the Mastodon and small Meg in an earlier post, so here I plan to focus on the rest... I was picking up a lot of broken teeth and bone and decided to keep more than I usually do. SO if I saw enamel , I kept it . The with the bone I found a piece of fossilized wood Lower left, and I thought about its texture compared to bone (ribs). Then I started keeping any fossil with "strange" texture.... A close up of the wood... Why is this wood instead of bone, I asked myself... and started picking out random bones for comparison purposes. Another interesting find...was some mud_rock with a little silicified layer attached...It was not until I was taking photos that I noted the blue druzy orbs... nice surprise Here is one I almost tossed.... just too small and fragmented. I do not know enough about fish jaws because they are very hard to find... but I did find one that I had identified. They looked to be very similar.. I had found a tooth for the 2021 Jaw, Then we identified the 2021 jaw as Alligator gar, and compared to this jaw from Nate, SO I am wondering if this new find is also Alligator gar.. A bit small... Note the enamel on the left side of the photo... There are lots of other broken fossils in the group shot that triggered my curiosity and demonstrates the diversity of fossils in the Peace River... Let me know if you would like to discuss / comment on any....

I am spending a week in Florida with my son in Ormond by the sea. It is attempt to get some time to just relax, with little to do. On Friday, I went hunting for fossils. We hit two locations, one downstream , one upstream. Went downstream first...fewer small shark teeth than normal, a few large tigers, armadillo osteoderm, a antler stub, a couple of worked flakes, apple snail, fishing weight, turtle foot pads and 4 plus plates of a Capybara. I like to hunt in deep water because it helps my back. A significantly large gator was taking too much interest and so we left. The Capybara tooth So, we went to the Upstream location (at the end of the day we wanted a downstream ride). A few white rooted teeth from the Peace River... I am wondering if these are dated to the phosphate mines where other white rooted teeth are found.. I like the colors here, Love the Tilly bone, IF only I could date a layer from what we found.... There was a post about Dugong in Washington State, but it could not be... no dugong in Washington, but this one seems similar, and it is dugong.Provenance counts.. do not lose it.. So , you are asking Where is the fossils to be IDed ? I am willing to settle for... Is it rock?, Is it bone ?

Having just gone thru the effort of identifying a Chelonia Sea Turtle Humerus, but I looked at a Humerus for a Giant Tortoise and it did not seem to match.. So others might have seen this previously. Seems distinctive enough... @digit

I posted a thread discussing finding barnacles and seashells in the Peace River on Monday. I did have a few other finds and decided to post these separately... 1st -- a very small tooth that looks like deer but I do not think it is, and if it is not deer and in the Peace river it is very rare. Back in February, @Harry Pristis identified another small tooth I had found that was from a Pliocene deer, Eocolieus gentryorum... and it looks very similar, just a little smaller, but I need one more photo, I do not think this is Deer, I think it is Llama, and the only llama I can think of at this size is Hemiauchenia gracilis... Let's see what Harry says... 2nd up is a pretty small Dolphin tooth... I was digging in pea gravel,, small gravel generally leads to small fossils. A marine mammal periotic. Usually these are 30 mm, not 20 . I will be curious what @Boesse identifies it as.... When not hunting, I have been working most of the days, cleaning up and cleaning out my collection... NOT ENOUGH ROOM... While sorting the ones to keep, I found this in a ziplok bag from years ago.. It is about the same size and looks a little similar but did not come from the Peace River.. curious that I should come across these two 24 hours apart...

I went hunting yesterday. My hunting partner wanted to return to a place that never ran out of gravel, and had numerous great fossils. At least the last time we were there 4 years ago... Yesterday, it was more difficult. It seemed that many had discovered this place and it is pretty close to a Peace River access bridge. In this group short where I have removed the 100s of small shark teeth (broken and whole) it seems there is little of interest, but hold any judgements... I kept a couple of bones because I wanted to use them as puzzles to solve... Some interesting finds: This Hemi is about as sweet as any of these get with black on black Peace River coloration... ID #1) How about a sliver of enamel.... The brownish area on the bottom photo implies Mammoth enamel, the enamel is thinner than I normally expect from Mammoth, and the external texture is not what I normally think of as Mammoth... What is next ID #2) This looks like a gigantic !!! Drumfish tooth, but that seems unlikely.. What is it? Does not look man_made, and it is pretty unusual as a concretion.... I do not know... And ID #3) Early in the day I found a wild pig molar and tossed it back... then I picked this up,, I said it was really odd, but was about to toss it as modern calf, he said that he did not know.... So TFF gets to see it... Calf Molar, lower left m2... It has a really odd stylid. but there seems to be lots of variability on the stylids. The enamel is translucent, and "seems" fossilized, even seems to have some HSBs, but possibly those marks are just scratches.. I think I am just sharing an odd modern tooth, As always , it was a great day on the river.... Jack

Out hunting the Peace River yesterday. Went back to a location we have hunted forever. Basically just depending the river continually moving the fossils around and dropping them in the same place. Wait for the river to drop making this location shallow enough to dig. I know most of what I found... Here is a photo, after removing the shark teeth.... and the few shark teeth I chose to keep... The Meg on the left is 30 mm, some tigers including a Mayumbensis and a broken... meg I think. There was a Tapir tooth with some root, a Croc tooth along with the gator teeth, and a cluster that @Coco Identified for me years ago, but just now I can not remember. There is a chunk of proboscidean foot bone I likely will not identify, a chunk of gator jaw, dolphin tail vert, a dugong/manatee partial skull cap, and a pretty nice Glyptodont osteoderm. But the things I like the most are a dolphin tooth and ear bone... I seem to be finding more of these lately... and that's just fine with me. For last is this canine or maybe canine. I think that I convinced myself that it is a whale tooth that is "spalling"... More than sufficient find to reward a day of hunting, and a surprising number given that I have hunting this exact spot of years...

Another great day in the sunshine with friends. Kayaking in a slow current, finding chest deep water, sun shining, a few drops of rain. The deep water is aerobic exercise for me, really helps my back both during and after. We were in 2 locations. One was chest deep , finding mostly small shark teeth. I think there are a couple of Tiger shark parasymphyseals/symphyseals there, some nice Hemis/Tigers...and one of my friends found the beat_up Horse tooth and asked if I thought it was pre_Equus. I said I was not sure but I would give someone on TFF an opportunity to answer. @Meganeura Have you looked at enough fossettes and plications to hazard a guess on Equus or not? Slight variation on angle for 2nd photo We hunting the morning at the 1st spot, and after eating lunch, I headed downstream to a place we had hunted extensively and friends avoided because it was "hunted" out. But I had some great memories there of black enamel, black rooted megs, and I could bask in the memories hunting old locations... My 1st sieve had the 2.5 inch Meg !!! Nothing better than Luck. There was a top layer of 4-6 inches of gravel.. I quickly picked up a piece of fossilized, a large dolphin vert, the process of a dugong Vert to join the Meg. The detail on all of these is excellent, meaning no water erosion for a couple of million years. Tells me a lot about where they came from.....A photo of the Meg taken on the river... I am trying to identify that toe bone or hoof core.....it only has 3 sides to photo.... 1st photo has an articulation, last photo is concave, middle photo convex. @PODIGGER Jim, I am hoping that you can help me here. Seems like you see a lot of bones... Which way is down ? Which way is up? Thanks Jack

I went out hunting yesterday. It seems to me that Florida is in a drought and that water level are so low that they preclude the use of kayaks. So I decided to walk into the backwoods of Florida... pack as light as possible and carry a cellphone and lots of water. Walking takes up digging time and my results were few. A couple of small makos, 2 horse teeth, 2 gator teeth, a tapir cap, fish skull cap, a chunk of gator/tapir jaw with alveoli but no teeth, and a handful of small shark teeth. Two items encouraged me to post today. On my walk, I happened to spot a paw print. I had a small knife and a tire iron, so felt I was prepared for any eventuality. 6 months ago , I put up a 3 inch paw print that had claws and it was identified as a coyote that wandered under my house. This paw print seems bigger... This is the tire iron, distance between the bend and narrow part about 7 inches, if I subtract an inch from each side .... about 5 inches. This is the paw print any suggestions on what animal made the print appreciated. When only finding a few fossil, I search the sieve longer. I noted some thing about this fragment that makes me think it is a canine. Now, I do not think we'll be able to Identify but, this changes some of my mind on what the inside of a Canine might look like.... It can have an open core, like gator , whale , etc... It can have different layers, cementum, enamel, dentin I picked it up, because I thought I saw serrations inside the tooth...Look at that last photo below. What is that layer ...how crazy is that ? Crazy enough to want to discuss with you... maybe others can share odd things inside broken canine teeth

Even though my muscles were sore and my tendons/ligaments were overused from hunting on Saturday, I had committed to a Peace River hunt yesterday. and a commitment , after all, is a commitment. So there I was at 7:30 am, launching from a Peace River Bridge with a couple of friends. It was bound to be a difficult day. The best location in the general area of where we chose to hunt was covered with softball (and up) sized boulders and had been heavily hunted by people who knew what they were doing. The boulders are the advantage. As we get storms and hurricanes, it moves gravel and fossils downstream. The fossils/gravel falls between the cracks in the boulders. All you have to do is remove the boulders. You won't find much, but usually for me , it is worth the effort, which turned out to be a little over 5 hours of shoveling boulders... So, the "everything" photo.... Pretty sparse, Up in the left corner rocks or overly worn osteoderms, In the right upper corner, marine mammal (2 broken whale bulla, 2 broken dolphin bulla, a frag of dolphin jaw bone, and an overly worn dolphin periotic) all a pleasure to find..I will be able to ID that periotic) Do the small whale bulla imply small whales ? maybe 10 feet at birth.... Right lower corner , an old glass fuse... Does anyone still make them? Lower left a couple of horse teeth, and a process from a dugong vert... These will go into a zip lock and donated at my next fossil club meeting with most of the small teeth. For the sharp eyed ones who spotted it in the "everything photo", my find of the day... Took a long time to get to : What am I trying to Identify .... A bone and possibly from the 1st photo, a toe bone or hoof core.... Size approximately L 30 x H 25 x W 20 mm. Thanks to all. Jack

I had not been in the Peace River for a month. Cool weather, had covid which made me weak, busy with other responsibilities. I went with two friends. The River is very low, clear in most spots. We chose to go back to a place where we had found a lot of pretty black on black Megs 5-6 years ago. Also had Mammoth and Mastodon fossils. One of us found just a few little shark teeth, a marble, and a beat up Llama tooth. Another found LOTS of little shark teeth and 2 or 3 distressed Megs. Great day, Sunshine , good friends , cool water. I could hear a Hoot Owl in mid afternoon. Here are my finds, some interesting, I kept thining that I would find a complete meg 2-2.5 inches... there were lots of pieces, but it never happened. That resembles a Hubble Meg. So, 2 plates of Mammoth, a chunk of Mastodon and I am thinking Mammoth leg bone but one friend suggested Vert. Picked it off the bottom in 2 feet of water..There is a very small toe bone, I'll try to ID in a week or so. A shiny Equus lower right m3 about 30 mm which seems small for an Equus m3. A piece of Ray mouthplace, and a VERY warn dolphin petrosal. Just sharing the day , showing some finds. This location has had a lot of hunting activity and it is not easy to find fossils. The Peace river is an old friend and always seems to welcome me back with a fossil or two. One friend had a great find a week back.. He agreed to let me post a photo on TFF. Very special version of a rare fossil. Enjoy.

I hardly ever go out on Weekends, because it takes away the perception of solitude. But today ,made an exception... Showing off a couple of finds, and asking a couple of questions... 1st is a lower left Equus tooth, likely the m1 or m2. Equus is pretty common in the Peace River. This one is pretty small at 24 mm APL. Question:... What is you smallest APL for an Equus tooth? 2nd is a P. mirifica about the same size as the Equus tooth. Blowup of enamel.... Question. What has happened with this tooth? Is that sparkly stuff druzy? On the lower left enamel, looks like HSBs ... but HSBs do not occur in Camelids.. So what are those slanting lines? Here is an example of Hunter_Schreger Bands (HSBs) in Rhino teeth..

Went out Monday, going back out tomorrow. My last find of the day was a bear premolar. I have posted a thread http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/130052-maybe-bear/&tab=comments#comment-1405238 But needed more time to sort, take photos, etc We had gone to a spot on the Peace River that we had hunted numerous times before, knew every curve and straightaway, where we found gravel and how deep.. Sometimes it pays to go home again. We had a hurricane that moved LOTS of sand and gravel , and some of that came from the banks, and rearranged it down the riverbed. We were basically prospecting for new gravel on top and returning to deep holes. Just small teeth early, then found a stretch of more productive gravel on top... So, 4 armadillo osteoerms, a couple of Equus teeth, 3 tillybones, 3 gator teeth, chunk of ivory, bunch of small shark teeth.. There were some odd finds... a couple of sponges... when did we last have sponges in the Peace River.... Should I search for an ID on this sponge ? Were there many different kinds and shapes? I also found almost a a perfect end of a dolphin vert, but most of it had disintegrated. ... strange. I pay a lot of attention to texture.... This has got to be bone , maybe hoof core.... the "bone" is shaped and curving from top to point,, and has channels, maybe for blood vessels.... I rarely toss anything that I don't understand I only bone I have seen that reminds me of this.... curving bones layers, blood vessels... Sloth claw is a possibility... there may be others... There were many others.... That's a wrap... 5am is coming fast. Looking forward to the hunt.

I found this bone hunting with @DirtyHippie. It seemed Odd in that we were primarily finding marine material (shark, marine mammal, dugong) in a PlioMiocene layer. I immediately thought Pleistocene calcaneum, tossed into my collection bag and continued hunting. After looking at it for a couple of hours, checking out Ulna, Radioulna for many mammals, I have decided to request help. The broken bone is 83 x 20 x 17 mm... about 3.25 inches long