jikohr Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 Hi everyone! I have my eye on something kinda interesting, a sabre-tooth cat tooth! Or at least that what the seller claims these are. They look to be incisors of some sort of large hairy beast I would have wanted to avoid so I am kinda curious if anyone recognizes the morphology. No info beyond "Pleistocene of Africa" unfortunately. First one is about 2.25 inches (so probably about 5.5 cm) and the second is about 2.5 inches (about 6.25 cm). Thoughts anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caverat Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 (edited) I'm no expert, but I'd say no to saber tooth cat. Even as a juvenile tooth the shape looks very wrong. Photo of Missouri find now at Illinois State Museum (sorry for the quarter for scale - that ISM's image...). Edited April 6, 2023 by Caverat attribution and scale explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jikohr Posted April 6, 2023 Author Share Posted April 6, 2023 Yeah they aren't typical sabre cat canines. Although I did just find something interesting. Apparently there's this thing called the Scimitar cat, Homotherium latidens, formerly Macairodus latidens that is found in Africa. Here's some pics I found. number 5 kinda reminds me of tooth 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 Note the cusps and note the serrations: It is said that Saber Cats are the only ones to possess both on their incisors. This is a Xenosmilus incisor This is Homotherium incisor... 1 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jikohr Posted April 6, 2023 Author Share Posted April 6, 2023 53 minutes ago, Shellseeker said: Note the cusps and note the serrations: It is said that Saber Cats are the only ones to possess both on their incisors. This is a Xenosmilus incisor This is Homotherium incisor... Huh, I knew about the serrations but I've never seen good close ups of sabre tooth incisors to see the cusps. Thanks man! Yeah the lack of serrations I could attribute to weathering but there's no indication there was ever any cusps on these. So what do you think they are then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Cole Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 I'm terrible with teeth, but this one looks pretty robust, and I'd be considering larger animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 Hi Jikohr, interesting teeth. The shape of the tips makes me wonder if these are cat/ carnivore at all. Maybe quite worn canines of a really old animal that lost its typical pointy ends. I did not find good references, but could imagine these to belong somewhere in a warthogs jaw, not the big tusks obviously. As a word of warning, the two times I thought I got myself an african pleistocene fossil online, it turned out to be still smelling of carrion, there is a huge black market in recent animal parts from Africa. Best Regards, J 1 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilus Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 Kind of reminds me of this thread from many years ago. Maybe zebra canine? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jikohr Posted April 7, 2023 Author Share Posted April 7, 2023 1 hour ago, Mahnmut said: Hi Jikohr, interesting teeth. The shape of the tips makes me wonder if these are cat/ carnivore at all. Maybe quite worn canines of a really old animal that lost its typical pointy ends. I did not find good references, but could imagine these to belong somewhere in a warthogs jaw, not the big tusks obviously. As a word of warning, the two times I thought I got myself an african pleistocene fossil online, it turned out to be still smelling of carrion, there is a huge black market in recent animal parts from Africa. Best Regards, J 27 minutes ago, fossilus said: Kind of reminds me of this thread from many years ago. Maybe zebra canine? Yeah, the possibility of them being modern was definitely in the back of my mind. That lack of good proximity ALONE beyond just "Africa" was a red flag. But hey, couldn't hurt to ask just in case right? I figured if they were indeed sabre-cat then they couldn't be modern and if they were IDed as something else I'd cross that bridge when I got to it. Comparing them to that old thread fossilus provided basically seals it for me. I always forget equuids have canines and the first one is a pretty good match. The second one is a bit different but after looking around a bit I think I'm leaning toward Warthog though I could be wrong. Gotta love African "fossils" am I right? An affordable sabre tooth cat tooth once again remains a distant dream.... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 I´d go with the zebra. Warthog was just an idea I had looking for non- carnivora with substancial canines, Equid looks good. Best Regards, J 1 1 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossillarry Posted April 14, 2023 Share Posted April 14, 2023 Modern horse canines. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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