Fossil claw with flesh? Eastern Iowa field find.

[Jmeest]

Found on surface of field in Eastern Iowa 15 years ago, guessing it may have been carried on a tire from a gravel road, dropped by a human or deposited by glacier. 

Hard grey limestone. Fine details suggest to me a digit pulled from a carcass & buried. Apparent rodent-like bite marks in both the nail and flesh.

This thing is amazing to me but I am having trouble finding much to help identify via internet. Any ideas?

Am I imagining things here?

[JBkansas]

"Flesh" doesn't petrify like that. Soft tissue is squished flat by the pressure of the rock around it, I don't think it's a claw either (claws are made out of keratin which squishes flat like soft tissue). The only parts of paws that are found with preservation of 3d shape is bones. The core inside of claws is made of bone but they're usually not nearly as long as the keratin claw would be (which makes sense since it's just a frame for the claw to grow from). 

[JBkansas]

Here's a real example of a fossil claw with remarkable soft tissue preservation:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figures?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252355

[Advantage]

10 hours ago, JBkansas said:

Here's a real example of a fossil claw with remarkable soft tissue preservation:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figures?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252355

That is indeed a remarkable specimen. 

[Fossildude19]

Rocks exposed in Eastern Iowa are too old to have fossilized claws present.