Craig Little Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 It is similar to bones I have seen that have been identified as dolphin ear bones. So, I thought this larger one may be to a whale? In truth, its a wild guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njfossilhunter Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Sorry .....But Its very hard to tell if its the Bulla part of the ear bone and if it was....its a very large one... with most of it gone. TonyThe Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find. I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Yup, it's a tympanic bulla from a small baleen whale, probably a basal balaenopteroid such as Parietobalaena given the look of things. It is broken, but it's by no means difficult to tell the tympanic from the petrosal/periotic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeDOTB Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Yep! DO, or do not. There is no try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDad4 Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Nice find! You can compare your whale ear with one I found at the Green Mill Run, Greenville, NC earlier this month. The experienced fossil head who id'd my find said the size of the ear determines the whale species since whale ears are full-size at birth. Let's see what the others say.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 It is true that size is important, as they are born with (mostly) fully formed earbones. That being said, that doesn't mean that broken specimens that happen to preserve the length (and little else) are informative; different lengths are mostly useful to tell apart closely related "types" with similar morphology, if the specimens are roughly complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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