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Whale Vertebrae Fossil Or Not?


elske58

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Found this whale bone in Fort Bragg, CA . Two questions 1) Is it a Fossil? 2) Can you legally sell whale bones in the US?post-12330-0-72838800-1372289798_thumb.jpgpost-12330-0-30474900-1372289777_thumb.jpgpost-12330-0-63977200-1372289750_thumb.jpgpost-12330-0-22886800-1372289708_thumb.jpgpost-12330-0-50915000-1372289685_thumb.jpg

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it looks modern to me. I know you can sell fossil ones but not to sure about modern ones.

one day i will find a tooth over 3 inches in good conditon haha.

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Not sure if fossil whale verts show up in the area where you found this specimen, but it does sorta look like it might be fossilized. In any event, based on it's thickness being so small/thin, I think this is a vertebra from the cervical/neck region.

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It is really hard to tell from just the image but I tend to agree with Zach. It looks more modern than fossil to me.

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It's a modern specimen. I assume you found this on a beach? There aren't any Miocene or Pliocene marine rocks in the Fort Bragg area, so I highly doubt this is fossil. It looks like its been weathering on the beach for a few years. The other possibility is that it's from a midden. Either way, it's not legal to possess (or sell).

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Thanks everyone. I've had it for about 20 years, and who knows how long it had been on the beach. Do you think I should donate it ? If so, where?

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Thanks everyone. I've had it for about 20 years, and who knows how long it had been on the beach. Do you think I should donate it ? If so, where?

Not sure that a museum would take it if they know the laws governing the possession of marine mammal parts. Reading various articles on the US Fish and Wildlife Service website (link below), there are exceptions for folks that are Native Alaskans; they are allowed to hunt, kill, possess various types/parts (meat, hides, bones) of mammals. In some cases people can take a specimen to the Fish and Wildlife Service and request a permit to register and own a piece/part of marine mammal. You could try contacting them to ask what they would recommend you do with it.

http://www.fws.gov/habitatconservation/marine_mammals.html

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