chele Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I was browsing the internet finding ways to help identify fossils. One article recommended sticking your tongue on the rock/fossil, if it sticks it is a fossil. I was a licking fool for about thirty minutes(don't laugh) . The tongue sticking one was what I thought was petrified wood. Sooo when you finish laughing could you guys(or gals) give me your take on this. Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmorefossil Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I was browsing the internet finding ways to help identify fossils. One article recommended sticking your tongue on the rock/fossil, if it sticks it is a fossil. I was a licking fool for about thirty minutes(don't laugh) . The tongue sticking one was what I thought was petrified wood. Sooo when you finish laughing could you guys(or gals) give me your take on this. I mean for bone it works but any thing with enamel its another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Sorry man, I did laugh out loud on this one. I have not heard of checking for fossils in this manner. If it proves true, I guess I have learned something new... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 It definately works on fossilized (and fresh dry) bone. Now Vertman, I'm not saying you should actually look for fossils this way. If you decide to drag your tongue along the beach or across a quarry, you may find a fossil, but then again you might just get a sore tongue. But it is a way you can check to see if a rock is fossilized bone or just rock. Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 My wife has frequently accused me of being a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. I guess I can now add tongue-dragging to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 My wife has frequently accused me of being a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. I guess I can now add tongue-dragging to that. My husband is still giving me a hard time about licking all those rocks! Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmorefossil Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 My husband is still giving me a hard time about licking all those rocks! I have even found myself licking coprolite..... Dont ask but I have lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 I have even found myself licking coprolite..... Dont ask but I have lol Reminds me of the movie Ice Age when Sid was nominated as the poo checker. :lol: Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old dead things Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 It works for dinosaur bone. Of course that is the small pieces. Jim Old Dead Things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Just make sure if your hunting coprolites it feels like rock before you lick it LOL . fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Is this a 'Triple-dog-dare'? Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 don't stick your tongue on stuff you find laying around. 87.5 people have died from doing that. besides, both the porosity and the hygroscopicity of the calcium phosphate in fossil bone are subject to degradation by diagenetic processes effecting mineralizationistic conversions and additions, so the diagnostic value of anecdotally efficacious methods of testing found samples is questionable. (note to x-man - better?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Reminds me of the movie Ice Age when Sid was nominated as the poo checker. :lol: hahahaha i like the part where the fools breathe in helium and they couldn't stop laughing from all the high pitched voices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I think it is a useful diagnostic tool in the field for the detection of fossilized bone..... the porosity of the bone via capillary action of saliva causes the tongue to temporary stick to the fossilized bone.... be it a crude test but has its limits... take it for all its worth.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 If it licks back, it ain't a fossil ... Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I posted a story about a similar experience in another forum a while back, so a few of you may have seen this before, but for those that haven't, read on: "Why I'll never put another shark tooth in my mouth again" Ok, once in a while I find a really nice small tooth like an awesome cowshark while collecting at the beach. Instead of risking breaking it by dropping it in my tooth container right away, I like to wrap it in a napkin then put it in the container. So, what I normally do is take the tooth and put it in my mouth, sometimes just between my lips, while I take off my backpack to look for a napkin or something. I seem to do this about once per trip it seems, for some sort of small tooth I want to protect. In addition, occasionally I find something that I need to give the "fossil test" to, so I either tap it against my shovel, or if it is small enough, I tap it against my teeth. That is, until this past Friday when I was out collecting with Govinn. The water was high due to the rain storm, and as we walked along the cliffs just minutes after arriving, Govinn spotted a huge Rat scampering just a few feet up ahead of us. It looked like Godzilla it was so big. I had never seen a rat before in real life, and this thing kinda freaked me out a little because it ran up ahead and dissapeared into some piles of clay boulders and branches. For a while, I kept wondering where it had really gone and when was I going to reach down for a tooth and be surprised by the rat again. Well, several hours later, the tide got really high and we decided to call it a day. On our way out I discovered Mr. Rat. He was doing the backstroke not far from were we first saw him earlier that morning. He apparently succumbed to the high tide and was washing ashore, right were I had picked up a tooth earlier and placed it in my mouth! OMG Yuck! So, needless to say, I'll never put another shark tooth in my mouth again! Daryl S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Cowsharks[and others],I can add another reason to not store fossils in your mouth even for a minute.A friend of mine would do it long enough to get a vial to put them in while hunting. On the way to his gear, he tripped and accidently inhaled a few teeth.We ended up going to the emergency room only 1 hour into our hunt due to lung problems.He ended up having both lungs operated over a short time creating a huge bill,not to mention a lot of pain and the embarassment it caused. Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 (edited) Ok, you found me out. I am guilty... guilty of popping lots of shark teeth into my mouth as a holding spot, prior to dumping them as a group into a collection bag. If I find a large and/or special fossil, it is not likely to go into my mouth, instead getting the special trip immediately into a collection bag. While I can reconsider based on the stories in this thread (especially cowsharks!!) , it does expose a base character flaw. Ever since my Dad told me to pick up that half sucked lollypop because " you'll swallow pounds of dirt and grime before you die and a little extra now won't hurt you", I sort of have a kismet view about close interactions of the natural kind. In reference to the coprolites, I reach for that immortal Predator2 phrasing: ###### Happens WOW -- I just noticed that I have been BLEEPED !!! automagically !!! and my warn status did not go up??? Edited April 27, 2011 by Shellseeker The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Ok, you found me out. I am guilty... guilty of popping lots of shark teeth into my mouth as a holding spot, prior to dumping them as a group into a collection bag. If I find a large and/or special fossil, it is not likely to go into my mouth, instead getting the special trip immediately into a collection bag. While I can reconsider based on the stories in this thread (especially cowsharks!!) , it does expose a base character flaw. Ever since my Dad told me to pick up that half sucked lollypop because " you'll swallow pounds of dirt and grime before you die and a little extra now won't hurt you", I sort of have a kismet view about close interactions of the natural kind. In reference to the coprolites, I reach for that immortal Predator2 phrasing: ###### Happens WOW -- I just noticed that I have been BLEEPED !!! automagically !!! and my warn status did not go up??? Your lucky about the warn status. Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diplotomodon Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Simple summary: It works, but not recommended. What a wonderful menagerie! Who would believe that such as register lay buried in the strata? To open the leaves, to unroll the papyrus, has been an intensely interesting though difficult work, having all the excitement and marvelous development of a romance. And yet the volume is only partly read. Many a new page I fancy will yet be opened. -- Edward Hitchcock, 1858 Formerly known on the forum as Crimsonraptor @Diplotomodon on Twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 i won't even mention valley fever spores, but look - anthrax spores are viable a long time in the ground, and vibrio hangs out in copious quantities at the coast, or at least at the coast near me, sooo... nice knowin' all you tasters out there... p.s. - just cuz yer paranoid don't mean somethin's not out to get ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjaak Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 or use a wet finger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 or use a wet finger you don't even have to wet your finger. if there's the slightest bit of humidity in the air, or your hands have the slightest bit of sweat on them, when you pick up a piece of fossil bone, you can feel the tackiness to the surface. unless it's completely turned to chert, in which case you can feel chert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Fossil Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 (edited) Yup, it's real! Edited April 29, 2011 by DJ Fossil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killa bee Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I have even found myself licking coprolite..... Dont ask but I have lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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