Jump to content

Cow Or Bison Tooth


squalicorax

Recommended Posts

my understanding is that the presence of the stylid differentiates bovid from camelid, and that subtleties between stylids in bos from bison can be used to distinguish between the 2, but confidence level for most of us in doing this isnt very high.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it not the fact that the stylid is isolated which enables it to be determined as bison? The stylid is a characteristically bovid feature and – if both present and isolated (on cheek teeth) – that distinguishes bison from bos? On old and weathered bison teeth, the attachment of the stylid can be sufficiently weakened that if falls away completely and that’s what creates much of the uncertainty for isolated teeth with no context.

Roger

I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, the character is so variable it can not be reliably used to differentiate Bison from Bos.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that's why i chuck anything that doesn't definitely scream bison to me due to attached matrix, size, color, and/or density...no point in filling my house with cow parts.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice find Nathan! For someone who collects invert fossils (primarily) finding a tooth like this (cow or bison) can be thrilling. I'm certain I wouldn't have chucked it back down on the ground. Just like you didn't. ;)

Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apologies if that sounded jerky above....at times I run into lots of bone of questionable age and have to make some decisions on the spot.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice find Nathan! For someone who collects invert fossils (primarily) finding a tooth like this (cow or bison) can be thrilling. I'm certain I wouldn't have chucked it back down on the ground. Just like you didn't. ;)

I too agree! Posted and ID question about a tooth and it turned out to be a pig's tooth. Still cool to me though, as there haven't been any in the area it was found for over 100 years. The archeologist part of me kept it. :)

Apologies if that sounded jerky above....at times I run into lots of bone of questionable age and have to make some decisions on the spot.

Heck I wouldn't blame ya. Choosing between lugging a good "known" find home or a "questionable" one... back on the ground goes the questionable find for the next person to scratch their head over! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tend to keep everything I find....much to my wife's dismay. Then when I start running out of space on shelves either inside the man cave or the garage, I start thinning things out into the garden. Sometimes I bring bones home that seem old at first. Then they dry and are obviously not very mineralized. Those end up in the trash. But for some reason I just can't seem to get rid of any teeth, even when I'm sure they're cow. I probably have some weird 'philia' disorder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got a platter full of modern bones that I've not been able to toss too, and I've also got buckets of rocks, broken shells, and tiny unidentifiable fossil scraps. Hard to give any of that material up after spending the calories to pull it out of the ground.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...