Baby dinosaur?

[Ammonitelady]

Can anyone identify this?  

[Kane]

You will need to provide location information and size.

 

I will express some confidence it is not a baby dinosaur. 

[Ammonitelady]

Found in Georgia 

 

1 hour ago, Kane said:

You will need to provide location information and size.

 

I will express some confidence it is not a baby dinosaur. 

 

[Kane]

The only dinosaur remains found in Georgia would have to be from the Chattahoochee River Valley. I can tag my colleague who lives in the state who could qualify that @FossilDAWG

 

This does not seem to have any apparent bone or other morphological characteristics to truly suggest dinosaur. This is a suggestively shaped rock. I'll call in our resident dino expert to confirm @Troodon

[Ammonitelady]

Thank you!  

[Ammonitelady]

Sorry...it was actually Mississippi 

[Troodon]

Interesting but not seeing dinosaur.  Cretaceous deposits are found in the Northeast corner of Mississippi but dinosaur material is quite rare in the state.    

[digit]

It's better than most examples in that it didn't take too much time before I could see the resemblance that brought you to the "baby dinosaur" idea. Mother nature loves planting suggestively shaped rocks and the pattern matching software (or would it be hardware?) in our advanced pattern recognition section of our brains is splendidly capable of interpreting suggestive shapes like this to match our expectations.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

 

This rock is a keeper as many fossil hunters have a shelf in our display cabinets for fascinatingly shaped "fakers" that are mimicking objects that they are not. This would not be the way a dinosaur embryo would be preserved. There are very few out there. In fact an internet image search for the phrase "dinosaur embryo" turns up mostly fanciful images and very few actual embryos as dinosaur eggs are quite a rarity and those with reasonably well developed embryos with enough skeletal structure to be preserved are a rarity among rarities.

You have a well developed pattern matching skill which will serve you well in locating actual fossils. A good search image is often crucial in spotting a partially buried fossil from the faintest of clues visible while surface hunting for interesting finds. Your find is a great example in how the phenomenon of pareidolia allows us to recognize things from partial information. It is a capability that we all possess which is more commonly exhibited in seeing images in clouds or recognizing faces in rock profiles. Our brains are wired to fill in the gaps and spot recognizable objects from incomplete visual information. It has served our species well for countless generations and is frequently discussed when newer members bring these novelties to us wondering what they could possibly be.

 

You are not the first and will nowhere be the last to spot these unusually suggestive rocks and wonder if they could be something interesting as a fossil. We have a number of experts here on the forum--both professional paleontologists and avocational fossil hunters with years or decades of experience. We have no hidden agenda of "dismissing" actual fossils as "fakers" and we have seen our share of suggestive rocks over the years. We have a good understanding what actual examples of things like dinosaur embryos would look like and we also know what ages of rocks are exposed in various areas (due to well documented geological maps). You can trust our collective motivation in trying to educate you in the true identity of your find as we enjoy sharing fossil knowledge. Many new members find our forum based on curiosity about some suggestive finds. Those that have an interest in fossils find this forum a welcoming place willing to share knowledge about where fossils may be found and the proper ID of actual fossils.

 

Your rock is not a fossil but it is worthy of keeping as a great example of a rock really trying to appeal to our pareidolia. We hope you'll stick around and soak up some of the stored knowledge here on the forum. Fossils are fascinating and if you've got the desire to learn and to go out hunting for them, it can be a terrifically addictive activity.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken