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Pathologic triceratops vertebra


Dracarys

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Wanted to share my latest acquisition. Decades ago a friend of mine found this triceratops dorsal vertebra in Montana. There was evidence of post-mortem predation by a nanotyrannus. A tooth broke off and embedded in the centrum. Enjoy!

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Are there any other tooth scars in proximity of the tooth?  :zzzzscratchchin:

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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Cool vert even without any feeding evidence.  That tooth seems to present in perhaps cleaner form than I would have expected when considering the violence of feeding activity as well as the effects of time.  There is a good chance that a tooth embedded like this might break off due to shear forces during head shaking to free it, rather than extracting the tooth out the same path in pure tension, only to have the root pop cleanly out of the gumline.  And as mentioned, adjacent teeth should at least scrape the cortex nearby unless this was a single toothed dinosaur.  I have little experience with dino material, just a little experience with Pleistocene predation/scavenging marks, plus a cursory knowledge of Newton’s third law which states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”.  Applying this principle to this specific context, I’d be inclined to flip the vert and inspect for an opposing mark from at leat one tooth in the other jaw, required to generate this level of bite force.

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Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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Wow, that is a tremendous fossil!  

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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17 minutes ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

Cool vert even without any feeding evidence.  That tooth seems to present in perhaps cleaner form than I would have expected when considering the violence of feeding activity as well as the effects of time.  There is a good chance that a tooth embedded like this might break off due to shear forces during head shaking to free it, rather than extracting the tooth out the same path in pure tension, only to have the root pop cleanly out of the gumline.  And as mentioned, adjacent teeth should at least scrape the cortex nearby unless this was a single toothed dinosaur.  I have little experience with dino material, just a little experience with Pleistocene predation/scavenging marks, plus a cursory knowledge of Newton’s third law which states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”.  Applying this principle to this specific context, I’d be inclined to flip the vert and inspect for an opposing mark from at leat one tooth in the other jaw, required to generate this level of bite force.

 

29 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

Are there any other tooth scars in proximity of the tooth?  :zzzzscratchchin:

I have oversimplified the post. I am a man of science too and scrutinized over the vert when I first decided to purchase it. All your statements are 100% correct. When my friend first found it,  the tooth was inside the hole, but not embedded, and quickly fell out when removing the vert from the earth. He placed it back in the hole with glue. Since, restoration has been done and any scientific authenticity has been lost. Any other scavenging marks are probably covered up. I treat this solely as a nice display example off a trike vert that had predation by a nanotyrannus after death. 

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Amazing!! fossils like this are just amazing because it shows what the animals where like while alive.

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5 hours ago, Dracarys said:

 

I have oversimplified the post. I am a man of science too and scrutinized over the vert when I first decided to purchase it. All your statements are 100% correct. When my friend first found it,  the tooth was inside the hole, but not embedded, and quickly fell out when removing the vert from the earth. He placed it back in the hole with glue. Since, restoration has been done and any scientific authenticity has been lost. Any other scavenging marks are probably covered up. I treat this solely as a nice display example off a trike vert that had predation by a nanotyrannus after death. 

 

It is a shame there are not extensive photos of it after excavation and before any prep.  Minus the tooth, it is still an impressive find.

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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Awesome and unique piece! Thanks for sharing. I'd love to find something like that!

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