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A crocodile skull from Whitby


LiamL

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So I thought I would share my recent and dream fossil find.  Mark Kemp prepared my precious find for me.

 

When I found it on the beach the skull had a big blob on the top. For some reason the nodule had been formed in this shape, possibly preserving it well?

 

Anyway, here it was as I found it.

 

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A nice heavy lump to carry back. I could see the front of the rostum (Jaw, and back of the skull poking out of the rock)

 

 

After preparation

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 44207544_Photo06-06-2023102849am.thumb.jpg.76900f9485bebeea2f81c908d2c4b050.jpg

 

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Thank you

Edited by LiamL
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Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter

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Beautiful skull! I'm jealous! The ammonites are a nice bonus too!

Edited by Randyw
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WOW!!!! That is a BEAUTIFUL skull!!!! :wub: Congrats on a great find! 

 

Cheers and Shalom

 

-Micah

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Amazing find, Liam! Astounding preservation, and those ammonites make it extra valuable in term of biostratigraphic dating! Congratulations! :JustCuz_clapping:

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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What an epic find and prep! Congrats!

 

:yay-smiley-1:

The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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Spectacular find. And with ammonites and bivalve shells! The prep was magnificent. An awesome specimen. Thanks for sharing it. 

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Cool combo!

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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Hi,

 

It’s incredible that there was all this in this piece of rock ! What a glance and what a work of preparation !

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

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Wow! Well done to recognize that in the field! Did you know what it was when you found it?

 

Love seeing good news stories like this.

 

:yay-smiley-1:

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There's something ya dont see everyday!  Super find!  Love all the other ancient see life with it.  

 

RB

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11 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

Wow! Well done to recognize that in the field! Did you know what it was when you found it?

 

Love seeing good news stories like this.

 

:yay-smiley-1:

When I found it I saw the rostrum (Jaw) cross section. I thought it was an ichthyosaur skull, but asking some people they correctly predicted crocodile which is even better :)

Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter

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3 hours ago, LiamL said:

When I found it I saw the rostrum (Jaw) cross section. I thought it was an ichthyosaur skull, but asking some people they correctly predicted crocodile which is even better :)

 

Do you have a photograph of the cross-section? Would be interesting to see how you could recognise something like this in the field. Because I, too, am impressed from the photographs I've seen...

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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Oh wow! What a spectacular snapshot of ancient life… or perhaps death…:yay-smiley-1:

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20 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Do you have a photograph of the cross-section? Would be interesting to see how you could recognise something like this in the field. Because I, too, am impressed from the photographs I've seen...

 

Yes I do. Here it is. 

894005018_Photo06-06-202374447pm.thumb.jpg.a8c30819fdfe69e5aab7fa012a8e51d0.jpg

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Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter

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39 minutes ago, LiamL said:

Yes I do. Here it is. 

894005018_Photo06-06-202374447pm.thumb.jpg.a8c30819fdfe69e5aab7fa012a8e51d0.jpg

 

Thanks! That's an interesting cross-section, and indeed looks a lot like a jaw...! I'll have to keep an eye out for those patterns on my next hunt ;)

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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9 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Thanks! That's an interesting cross-section, and indeed looks a lot like a jaw...! I'll have to keep an eye out for those patterns on my next hunt ;)

I'm not sure if I have the upper and lower section of the jaw here? Any ideas?

Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter

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11 minutes ago, LiamL said:

I'm not sure if I have the upper and lower section of the jaw here? Any ideas?

 

This looks like just the upper section to me. To me, it seems like you're holding the skull upside-down in the photograph, with the dent at the top of the bone probably being something like the vomer (an anterior palatal bone on the inside of the skull between the maxillae). That means that I'd expect another similar shape for the bottom part of the jaw.

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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