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Hi all. So I'm gonna take the plunge and try some prep, but want to destroy minimally, so to speak. Attached are 3 fossils. I will save the skull for last as it seems quite unique. I was thinking of starting with the shells in limestone. It is quite soft. The other two are very hard. I have a CP kit and a 8315 with a long point on order, and bought a stereo scope (I'll attach the thread for the scope below shortly). Can you fine folks suggest any particular method of attack on these? Anyone see anything in the matrix that is of concern? The jaw labeling is per a discussion with @Boesse and others, and is not definitive. The jaw and ribcage are from the Monterrey Fm, whereas the limestone is northern Vancouver Island (not sure of the Fm) Thanks in advance

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to pull a nice odontoceti (whale) tooth from a favorite little (literally) spot on the Peace River. This location has very chunky gravel and often reveals nice prizes to repay the effort of digging through golf ball to bowling ball size gravel (if gravel is even an appropriate term for pieces that large). I've found the occasional piece of Long-beaked Dolphin (Kentrodontidae) jaw bone with its distinctive long groove punctuated with dental alveoli (tooth sockets) or the rare small tooth from this species.The item I found on Saturday is significantly larger than these small dolphin teeth measuring 8.5 cm (3.3") from tip to tip and 3 cm (1.2") across its widest girth. Given the size (and searching the few fossil identification books I have) I believe this may be from the family Physeteridae (Sperm Whales). There is a photo near the bottom of page 162 of Frank Kocsis' book Vertebrate Fossils: A Neophyte's Guide that is as close as I've come to something with a similar shape and enamel cap. There is also a nice paper on sperm whale teeth attached to this post from some years back: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/16591-whale-tooth-id-help/?p=184390 In both of these references my find seems to most closely resemble pictured specimens labeled Scaldicetus sp. but I've learned from Boesse on this very forum that Scaldicetus is a poorly applied term referring to species belonging to over a half-dozen different genera. Given my tooth's visual similarity to the poorly defined "Scaldicetus" does it appear that I am at least correct in assuming this tooth belongs to Physeteridae and that trying to take the taxonomy down any further from this with a single isolated tooth is poorly advised? Looking for some confirmation that I'm on the right course (and have not overshot the runway). Cheers. -Ken