Bonehunter Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 HI all! My first post to the forum!. I found this piece on the Kansas River this weekend, and it befuddles me!. My first thought was carnivore, but their's no carnassial tooth, so I guessed peccary, though there is a very short diastoma, but a professor at KU thought that it was a best guess from the photos. Any help would be greatly appreciated!.. I understand that there were only two genera of the extinct peccary- Mylohylus, and Platygonus, both of which would be older than 9,000 yerars?////but it doesn't look like either exactly. ...?.... maybe it isn't even a pig?...thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Welcome aboard! It's lookin' like Sus scrofa to my eye, but let others weigh in before you print a label. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeymig Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I agree. Its pig not peccary( peccaries are not pigs) and it looks pretty old. mikey Many times I've wondered how much there is to know. led zeppelin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 How inconvenient of you to find a specimen that is missing p1, p2 and p3! You do have p4, m1 and m2, which do help a bit! Your discovery definitely looks like a pig or peccary. The premolars of Platygonus and Sus both have three cusps while the premolars of Mylohyus have four cusps. Unworn molars are diagnostic as well but yours seem to be from an older individual so that makes it a bit more difficult. I can't tell for sure, but it appears that the p4 of your sample has four cusps which, if that is the case, would tend to indicate Mylohyus. That's the difficulty with trying to make an identification from a picture. Let's see if one of our mammal experts can add anything else! -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 (edited) Welcome to the forum! I love hunting the Kaw. I've found a couple of similar jaws, but not as mineralized (Which doesn't mean anything. All my mammoth material from the Kaw is very light colored!). One is much smaller. Pretty sure it's domestic pig. One fragment is similar in size to yours.... Edited July 29, 2014 by Xiphactinus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen. et sp. indet. Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 What did you use to conserve your specimens, Xiphactinus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Gen. et....I used Vinac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 (edited) For comparison: Edited July 29, 2014 by Harry Pristis http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehunter Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks all!.......Agree with Sus scrofa-found images of and have texts on dentition, etc, but it begits the last question- can this reasonably be Pleistocene wild boar?.. Really appreciate all the input!- I have many more to post.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Most likely an old domestic pig. Most likely from back in the 1800's. It's very hard to tell the age of bones from the Kansas river. I just posted a report from a flat trip my wife and I took yesterday. We found lots of bones, most likely bison, but they could have been cow as well. I found one vert with a 16" spinal process that has to be bison since cows don't have verts that big. That bone isn't completely mineralized, and like X-man said even mammoth stuff isn't always mineralized. I have also found saw cut steak bones in the Kaw that are black and feel mineralized. Oh, and welcome to the Forum from a fellow river rat. 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...
RichW9090 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Domestic pig for sure. Even without the teeth, it could be identified, as the mandible is much more robust than in the peccaries. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Bonehunter Posted Yesterday, 11:02 PM Thanks all!.......Agree with Sus scrofa-found images of and have texts on dentition, etc, but it begits the last question- can this reasonably be Pleistocene wild boar?.. Really appreciate all the input!- I have many more to post.... Pleistocene wild boar is a European animal which didn't range to North America. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Pigs were brought to North America by European explorers and settlers so your specimen is likely at most a few hundred years old and a betting man might lean toward it being from the 20th century. Thanks all!.......Agree with Sus scrofa-found images of and have texts on dentition, etc, but it begits the last question- can this reasonably be Pleistocene wild boar?.. Really appreciate all the input!- I have many more to post.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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