Newberrydc Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Can anybody identify this tooth and its approximate age? I'm pretty sure it's a bovine tooth. It was found about 15-20 feet into the surf off the beach at Dauphin Island, AL. I was digging shells and such out from under the sand (under about 2 feet of water) and found this (about 4 inches under the sand under the water) along with the shells I was digging up. It looks to be modern given its condition, but then I'm not sure if this could be from being buried under sand and ocean as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 It is from a cow, of historic times. "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...
Diceros Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I happen to have a cow skull right here, and I make it to be a right upper last molar (rt. M3, in mammal-tooth notation). In spite of the two ft. of water, and four in. of sand, I'd still say this was a molar of a modern cow, Bos taurus - it just has that look. That's not to say that it couldn't have been from the 1800's, from some pioneer southern Alabama cow. By the way, the top row of three pics (ling., lab., & occ.) would have been plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceros Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Sorry Auspex, I really don't believe in saying in 8 words what I could have said in 92 - as they say, the truth is in the details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newberrydc Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Great...thank you both!! There is a lot of debris (shingles, asphalt, concrete, etc) from structures destroyed in hurricanes. I'm thinking it possibly (probably) belongs to some livestock lost during a hurricane. Thanks again guys...you rock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Diceros has a penchant for lecturing - here he is instructing a fossil as to what its deeper nature really is: The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceros Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 It was the 70's, people dressed in bell-bottoms then! Note the proximal humerus of the lt. Pleistocene Dwarskill Mastodon (Mammut americanum), from NE New Jersey (i really can't help the explanations, they just pour out). Boy, that was a fun excavation (except for the noisy Canada geese). I think there's a collector who needs your comments on his Alaskan mammoth tusk tip commented on, on another post, Rich. It must be getting warm in Tucson, now that it's June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 (edited) Yes, Dwarskill. Ill post a few more pictures when I get a chance. And yes, it is just beginning to thaw in Tucson. The ice on the Santa Cruz river broke this past week - it finally reached 100 degrees. But I'm in NJ, down in the Cretaceous belt. Edited June 6, 2015 by RichW9090 The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I am pleased that this discussion of a modern Bos tooth transitioned into a walk down memory lane for two paleontologists who are also obviously good friends. Thanks for sharing. SS The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceros Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Sorry, there really wasn't anything more to say about the cow tooth. Good hunting in New Jersey, old friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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