An odd bone

[Shellseeker]

Out hunting today, and doing some prospecting. The weather was supposed to be warmer (high of 79), and the air was fine, but the water was cold.

We had 3 hunters, but not many unique finds,  a nurse shark and an unusual bone, neither found by me. When I say unusual, we are 3 experienced fossil hunters, and none of us has an ID..  Hopefully TFF can assist.

 

[Rockwood]

Glyptodont ?

[caldigger]

Looks like it might be a joint bone ( wrist/ankle? ).  Couldn't tell you to what critter though, something fairly big I would imagine.

[Shellseeker]

2 hours ago, Rockwood said:

Glyptodont ?

 

WOW... none of us thought of that... While searching for Glyptodont toe bones,  I found drawings of numerous sloth toe bones...Pictures of Sloth toe/foot bones were MUCH easier to find than Glyptodont toe/foot bones

 

[Rockwood]

The texture and robust nature was what brought them to mind.

[Carl]

Looks like it might be a patella?

[PrehistoricFlorida]

It's a tapir patella.

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, Carl said:

Looks like it might be a patella?

 

58 minutes ago, PrehistoricFlorida said:

It's a tapir patella.

 

Thanks to ALL,  looks like Carl & Prehistoric Florida were really close on getting to seeing this on TFF.

 

I am literally amazed at the detail and quality of this bone. The Peace River is a rough and tumble churning environment,  breaking bones and teeth in the summer floods -- it moves huge logs and concrete blocks miles.

On top of that there is water and sand erosion. I have seen mammoth tusks sliced lengthwise by water and sand.

 

This tapir could have died last spring and would likely have more wear on the bone than this... I am going to have to return to that location just to see if it has more super quality bones... 

[caldigger]

9 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

The Peace River is a rough and tumble churning environment,  breaking bones and teeth in the summer floods -- it moves huge logs and concrete blocks miles.

What amazes me is a state that has such little elevation change has such torrential river speeds. 

[Rockwood]

45 minutes ago, caldigger said:

elevation change

From the clouds to the ground is all they need.

[garyc]

That’s a really nice looking bone

[Shellseeker]

47 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

From the clouds to the ground is all they need.

It is like Flash Floods and arroyos in the South west. The Peace River seems to alternate between flood plain and limestone cliff with plenty of tributaries. The water keeps coming and when squeezed goes up 20 plus feet..

 

 

15 minutes ago, garyc said:

That’s a really nice looking bone

Agreed !! It is one of the finest bones I have ever seen for a fossil. When found, I thought it must be modern!!