Bison or Cow

[Zenmaster6]

Need help in this ID

[Shellseeker]

The tooth circled in blue is a lower jaw m3. For Bison, it should be approximately 40 mm. It is always good to provide measurements.

 

Here is a very interesting identification thread:

 

[Zenmaster6]

29 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

The tooth circled in blue is a lower jaw m3. For Bison, it should be approximately 40 mm. It is always good to provide measurements.

 

Here is a very interesting identification thread:

 

Would I need to measure to find out? Or can I tell from stylids. Thank you

 

-John

[Shellseeker]

53 minutes ago, Zenmaster6 said:

Or can I tell from stylids.

No. If you search this forum , you will find that members have discussed this topic numerous times. Some, but not all cows have stylids.  Some but not all Bison have stylids. The only "hint" you have is the size of the animals teeth. 

The vast majority of Fossil Bison teeth in my Florida hunting grounds came from Latifrons or Antiquus. Larger animals have larger teeth. You would have to know which bisons existed in the fossil record of Texas and what was the average size of their teeth.

 

[minnbuckeye]

34 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Some, but not all cows have stylids.  Some but not all Bison have stylids.

 

Jack, I was under the impression this rule held true: ""This stylid seems to always be present in Bison, but in the closely related genus Bos (cows) the stylid is usually absent or only weakly developed." Am I wrong? 

 

Mike

[Thomas.Dodson]

13 hours ago, Zenmaster6 said:

Would I need to measure to find out? Or can I tell from stylids. Thank you

 

-John

It's always good to go off both measurements and the stylids.

 

11 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

Jack, I was under the impression this rule held true: ""This stylid seems to always be present in Bison, but in the closely related genus Bos (cows) the stylid is usually absent or only weakly developed." Am I wrong? 

 

Mike

You're not entirely wrong. Bison generally have stylids that are robust and thick walled. Cow stylids do vary quite a bit but I don't know if I'd call them usually absent. They are generally thin, loosely cemented, and weak compared to the robust stylids of Bison. Cow stylids also tend to fall off when the cementum wears away which can make them absent.

 

I've gone through lots of BIson and cow teeth growing up where I have and these stylid observations hold true most of the time. Still, size never lies. You should be looking at a m3 in the 30 mm's for cow and a m3 in the 40 mm's for typical Bison (generally). It would be just as quick to measure the crown length on the m3 as it would be to take and upload more pictures of the other side of the tooth to examine the side of the stylid.

[Harry Pristis]

I think Thomas.Dodson has it about right -- cows and bison have these stylids.  Remember, we are talking about "isolated stylids" on molars only, both upper and lower molars.  Size and robustness as ID keys work best with a series of teeth, less well on isolated molars.  After all, there are big cows and small cows.  Same with bison.  Cow isolated stylids TREND toward being less robust.  Sometimes, an ID may come down to the circumstances of deposition and preservation.

 

 

 

[Zenmaster6]

8 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

No. If you search this forum , you will find that members have discussed this topic numerous times. Some, but not all cows have stylids.  Some but not all Bison have stylids. The only "hint" you have is the size of the animals teeth. 

The vast majority of Fossil Bison teeth in my Florida hunting grounds came from Latifrons or Antiquus. Larger animals have larger teeth. You would have to know which bisons existed in the fossil record of Texas and what was the average size of their teeth.

 

Here are a few measurements. I know that we have Texas longhorns here. Maybe they have 40mm teeth?

 

Hoping its a bison because it was near other extinct megafauna bones but it may be a huge bull?

[Zenmaster6]

Its around 38.5 mm if that helps.

 

there is a chip visable in the photos. If that chip was not there it might be around 39 - 40 mm

[Thomas.Dodson]

It's looking more and more like a mooer chewer to me. Preservation and that weak broken stylid point to cow in my opinion.

[Zenmaster6]

9 hours ago, Thomas.Dodson said:

It's looking more and more like a mooer chewer to me. Preservation and that weak broken stylid point to cow in my opinion.

Must be a huge cow

[Harry Pristis]

4 hours ago, Zenmaster6 said:

Must be a huge cow

 

And that could be the case.  I also am inclined to call it "cow."  Could be a longhorn or maybe a brahma.  The preservation makes me think it's modern.