Articulated Spine from WHAT?

[Minnesota Nice]

Right up front, I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. I left the vertebrae in place so these are the only photos I have. This series of 8 vertebrae were found weathered out in what I believe to be Whitewater, Brule in the general area of Interior South Dakota Badlands.  I would love to have an ID!

[westcoast]

Not sure you have vertebrae. wait for one of the bone guys to speak.

[Minnesota Nice]

See circled detail in this photo....Rib?

[tmaier]

I'm not a vertebrate person, but undeniably a spinal column there. That is one of those things that makes you sit down when you find it... to avoid falling down!. =-)

That spinal column is so well articulated that I think the rest of the skeleton would like be scattered down hill, and maybe 1/4 of it still buried there in articulated state.

What a nice find!.

[LordTrilobite]

Looks like a partial spine with some dorsal vertebrae and indeed also possibly some ribs. The big bone on the right seems to be a limb bone. Maybe a femur or tibia.
 The front of the animal seems to be pointing to the left in the second photo.

 

I'm not sure what the age is but it's giving me a mammal vibe.

[fossilized6s]

Yup, definitely a partial vertebra from a large creature. The larger bone, possible humerus or femur, may be more identifiable. 

[westcoast]

Looked too good to be true. fantastic find!

[Minnesota Nice]

1 minute ago, tmaier said:

That is one of those things that makes you sit down when you find it... to avoid falling down!. =-)
 

Fell down...then did a happy dance. Same feeling I had when I found my first trilobite when I was 7 years of age

[tmaier]

I tell this story too often, but...

Once while collecting in Indiana I came upon a dry riverbbed that was full of bones, and a huge skull of something the size of an elk! I ran forward, and then realized it was just limestone carved by the river to look like long bones and skulls. And then I also remebered I was poking around in Silurian marine deposits. =-(

My heart was thumping for about two minutes!

[FossilDudeCO]

great find, cant help with ID, perhaps @jpc can help?

[Ridgehiker]

That type of find gets etched on the brain!

 

Those look like large vertebrae...but photos can be deceptive. Can you estimate the size of one and  do you have a close up photo of one of the vertebrae. 

 

 

[jpc]

59 minutes ago, FossilDudeCO said:

great find, cant help with ID, perhaps @jpc can help?

OK.  here I am.  looks great.  I think you found a titanothere.  I am basing that on the size and the fact that you are near Interior. I can't tell if the bone on the right is pelvis or humerus, but its apparent thinness on the edge closest to us suggests pelvis.  Is it on private land?  i know there is a wee bit of private land around Interior.  The thing you circled as 'rib? might also be a neural spine. 

[Minnesota Nice]

4 minutes ago, jpc said:

OK.  here I am.  looks great.  I think you found a titanothere.  I am basing that on the size and the fact that you are near Interior. I can't tell if the bone on the right is pelvis or humerus, but its apparent thinness on the edge closest to us suggests pelvis.  Is it on private land?  i know there is a wee bit of private land around Interior.  The thing you circled as 'rib? might also be a neural spine. 

Thanks JPC! The "rib" seems a bit small to belong with the vertebrae so I like the idea of neural spine. Ran into this whilst Coyote hunting on private land...left it be. Perhaps next spring I can mount an expedition but this is way beyond my ability to collect with integrity.  

[Minnesota Nice]

24 minutes ago, Canadawest said:

That type of find gets etched on the brain!

 

Those look like large vertebrae...but photos can be deceptive. Can you estimate the size of one and  do you have a close up photo of one of the vertebrae. 

 

 

Canadawest,

Thanks for your response. The marked section in the photo measured 4 1/2 inches

[Ridgehiker]

I concur with jpc.  The size and shape says Titanothere. 

 

I have a few jaw sections but never came across even two  articulated Titanothere vertebra. 

 

Any time that many articulated bones are found...could be a potential bone mine just under the surface. 

[Nimravis]

I agree with JPC, I have Titanothere vertebrate from the same general area and my pieces could fall in line with your larger size verts.

 

Nice find

[fossilized6s]

Titanothere!! Woot, woot! What a neat creature, one of my favs. 

[GeschWhat]

Wow...amazing find!

 

[MarcoSr]

If the bones are Titanothere, they are in the Eocene Chadron Formation and not the Oligocene Brule Formation.

 

Marco Sr.

[Minnesota Nice]

Marco,

gives me good reason to go back to my maps and look at the area again. I took a great photo from a distance of the strata as well. I should be able to come to a conclusion

[MarcoSr]

On 11/30/2016 at 10:04 PM, Minnesota Nice said:

Marco,

gives me good reason to go back to my maps and look at the area again. I took a great photo from a distance of the strata as well. I should be able to come to a conclusion

 

If your formation is Brule then you would have to think about other large mammals like Rhino.  Also there is the possibility of something like buffalo.  Most of the fairly recent bones that I’ve seen in the badlands of Nebraska like cow or buffalo are very bright white which your vertebrae don’t seem to be.  However buffalo vertebrae that are thousands of years old can look like fossils but usually are more complete with the processes.  You need to be able to see more of the vertebrae features and look at your geology maps to solve this.

 

Marco Sr.

[RichW9090]

I agree with jpc.  Likely titanothere, pelvis on right.