Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'uf visit id'.
-
Wanted to share a bit if a surprise from my visit to the Peace River the first week of Oct. I posted a trip report earlier from that visit, but left this specimen out. At the time I wasn't sure what it was and was leaning toward - just a suggestively shaped rock. Being a novice fossil hunter I am still hesitant in making any fossil id's. So I dug this thing up out of the river and gave it a serious look. It was heavy, dense and looked a lot like bone to me. I couldn't come up with what kind of a bone it could be and was thinking it was just my creative imagination. It was most likely just a rock. I placed it on the bank and went back to digging. At the end of the day I gave it another look and decided not to take it home. But, I did place it back under water in a spot where I could find it again. I thought I would do some searching on line and see it I could find something similar. Fast forward two weeks. Back at the river digging in the same spot I pulled the item out and looked it over again. Placed it on the bank still trying to decide if I should take it. Later in the day while still digging away I was surprised to see a fellow Fossil Forum member appear - @Shellseeker! I took the opportunity to show him the item. He agreed that it did appear to be bone. He thought it had to be from a large animal, but was not able to hazard a guess as to what. At that point I decided taking it home for further investigation was warranted. After getting the specimen home photos with measurements were taken and sent off to Dr Hulbert at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Dr Hulbert responded within a few hours saying that from the photos he thought it could well be bone, possibly dugong. But he did not rule out that it was just an oddly shaped piece of phosphate as it looked solid from the initial photos. As luck would have it, I was due to travel to Tallahassee from south Florida this past Friday. I asked Dr Hulbert if he would take a look at the item in person if I stopped in at his UF office on the way. He agreed and I visited him Friday. Upon looking at the specimen he related it was clearly bone, much larger and heavier then he thought from the photos. He then stated that based on its size the only thing it could be is Proboscidean. Further, that the only bone with the weight and density to match would be the jaw. So, what I could not decide was or was not a rock turns out to be a section of the jaw bone of a Mammoth or Mastodon as determined by Dr Hulbert. I feel mighty lucky to have found this specimen to go along with the Mammoth and Mastodon partial teeth I found earlier this year. I also feel extremely lucky to have found this great forum that is full of such knowledgeable members. A special thank you to @Shellseeker for floating by unexpectedly and giving me his opinion on the questionable specimen! Attached are a couple of pictures of the section of jaw bone.
- 7 replies
-
- 1
-
- lg specimen
- peace river
-
(and 2 more)
Tagged with: