Pleistocene Rib Head

[GPayton]

I've found many rib fragments on the Brazos River in the past, but they've never been substantial enough to attempt an ID. Yesterday my luck seemed to change. About all I know about this piece is that it's heavily mineralized and definitely the proximal "head" of a rib bone that would have articulated with the corresponding vertebra in life. I've found some pictures of horse and deer ribs online but they don't quite match. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, but the most similar bone I was able to find was from a Florida panther - so maybe carnivoran of some sort? 

As always, any help from the Texas and Florida fossil hunting veterans would be appreciated!

[Texrig]

Wow.. nice find... could that be a bison rib... I am an amateur... I am excited to hear the results from those with years of experience!

[GPayton]

@Texrig - I think you may be right! Here's the best picture I was able to find that seems to make bison a pretty close match: 

I don't know why I hadn't thought to look up bison earlier! 

 

[Lorne Ledger]

I checked on this to double check if it could be cat and it is not.  I could go along with bison as a possible.

 

While this would now be off topic, I took pictures of my best cat finds on the brazos over the years.  Hard to resist the chance to show them off, so here they are:

To get back on topic, here is a plate from "Felidae of Rancho La Brea" of sabre-cat (top row) and lion ribs.  

[GPayton]

Thanks for double-checking Lorne, I really appreciate your expertise on these kinds of topics. And WOW! Those cat finds are amazing! Hopefully I can find even a fraction of what you have in the years to come. 

[Texrig]

Thank you for sharing the pictures... those are some awesome finds!

[Lorne Ledger]

Thank you very much!  Also have lots of bear and wolf and sloth - maybe will post some of that another time.  Cat is about the rarest fossil to find, so I always get excited when I find them.  Hoping the river gets low again so I can hit my favorite spot, it is currently under about 3 feet of the most viscous mud I have ever encountered since Harvey hit down there several years back now.

 

Don't worry @GPayton you will find some elements of those cats where you hunt, I posted those mostly so you would know there are still cat bones in that area to be found!

[garyc]

As long as we are doing show and tell, here are my big cat fossils from the Brazos @Lorne Ledger @GPayton

[Lorne Ledger]

Awesome stuff!!!!  Thank you @garyc - The skull has got to be out there somewhere.  Wonder if ours are from the same individual critter.