Winner of the October 2017 Vertebrate Find Of The Month!

[Stagmooser]

That is one very amazing and special find. Congrats Jeff. 

[jcbshark]

23 hours ago, RJB said:

I knew this would win the fossil of the month.  Very nice find.  Congrats.

 

RB

 

23 hours ago, TqB said:

Wonderful specimen. I want one, on a dinner plate...

 

21 hours ago, Shamalama said:

A Fantastic specimen made better by the articulation and the story behind it being found. Had you not been there at the right time, it may have washed away and never been recovered.

 

21 hours ago, digit said:

Congrats! Terrific find that I know will grace the top shelf of your display case.

 

It's a fossil....it's a puzzle....no, it's both!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

19 hours ago, Vieira said:

Fantastic find. Congratulations

 

19 hours ago, Spinosaurus said:

amazing!!

 

16 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

A beautiful thing. 

As a tortoise lover and keeper I'm very happy this won. 

Congratulations! 

 

16 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

A beautiful thing. 

As a tortoise lover and keeper I'm very happy this won. 

Congratulations! 

 

16 hours ago, sixgill pete said:

Fantastic Jeff, congratulations. 

 

15 hours ago, gavialboy said:

congrats jeff

 

10 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Awesome find

Thank you all as well and congrats on your 3 inch Mako Don. Hopefully one day I’ll have one of those gracing my display 

[JarrodB]

Congrats on the killer find.

[jcbshark]

11 hours ago, Stagmooser said:

That is one very amazing and special find. Congrats Jeff. 

 

31 minutes ago, JarrodB said:

Congrats on the killer find.

Thank you both as well

[JohnBrewer]

I had no doubt. Congratulations Jeff  

[MarcoSr]

Congratulations Jeff! Great find deserving VFotM!!!! 

 

There are exploded tortoises and intact tortoise shells all over the Oligocene ranch in Nebraska that my sons own.  We usually don't see many bones at all, only intact shells and shell pieces.  The predators and scavengers must have eaten pretty much anything that was sticking out of the shell. So what you found seems to me to be very rare indeed.

 

Marco Sr.

[Ancient Bones]

Sorry to be late Jeff, you put your ' best foot ' forward and got there first !  Congratulations !

[jcbshark]

18 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

I had no doubt. Congratulations Jeff  

 

14 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

Congratulations Jeff! Great find deserving VFotM!!!! 

 

There are exploded tortoises and intact tortoise shells all over the Oligocene ranch in Nebraska that my sons own.  We usually don't see many bones at all, only intact shells and shell pieces.  The predators and scavengers must have eaten pretty much anything that was sticking out of the shell. So what you found seems to me to be very rare indeed.

 

Marco Sr.

 

11 hours ago, Ancient Bones said:

Sorry to be late Jeff, you put your ' best foot ' forward and got there first !  Congratulations !

Thank you all And Marco,  The area I found this in they were digging the lake which is close to a river. I think it could possibly have been a flood deposit and covered up only because there was quite a few things in this general area that I have found they were likely associated and another hunter I know found a horse skull and some bones in the same exact area. Also, the shell layer that would generally be over the sharks teeth Layer appeared to be scoured away and most of the rest of this entire area was devoid of fossils.Definitely a very special find to me I only wish I knew where they dropped off the rest of the material to LOL.

[MarcoSr]

2 hours ago, jcbshark said:

.Definitely a very special find to me I only wish I knew where they dropped off the rest of the material to LOL.

 

Jeff

 

Hopefully there is more of the tortoise there.  It would seem odd to me that a single foot washed away by itself.

 

Marco Sr.

[jcbshark]

11 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

 

Jeff

 

Hopefully there is more of the tortoise there.  It would seem odd to me that a single foot washed away by itself.

 

Marco Sr.

I think the excavator took the rest of the turtle, I also found a bunch of tortoise shell. My flood theory is based on seeing the shell layer surrounding the rest of the lake and proximity to a decent sized river. I think over the years the river bed has meandered around and possibly extended into the current area of the lake. All the fossil stuff I found was only in one corner of the lake and all at the same level. The only other scenario we generally would find something articulated in would be a sinkhole but this was only about 12 feet down below ground level. I think maybe a flood or repeated floods deposited these animals there and were covered up where inaccessible to predators. I’m basing that one the missing shell

layer, proximity to the current river and lack of other fossils at the site in general. This is just my guess and open to any other opinions on how this came to be but this is one scenario that was plausible to me

[megaholic]

WTG Jeff, nice find.  Better go back one more time and make sure there isn't a lot more there somewhere...  I can help you if you need!  Happy for you!

[jcbshark]

7 minutes ago, megaholic said:

WTG Jeff, nice find.  Better go back one more time and make sure there isn't a lot more there somewhere...  I can help you if you need!  Happy for you!

Thank Chuck, unfortunately last time I went there the lake was filling and already above the area I got the turtle from. I imagine sod isn’t far behind

[belemniten]

Congrats 

Well deserved !!

[jcbshark]

5 hours ago, belemniten said:

Congrats 

Well deserved !!

Thanks you 

[Shellseeker]

Great find Jeff -- and it is fantastic that it comes early in the season, although I am not sure there is a season for  you! Articulated is impressive.

[jcbshark]

3 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Great find Jeff -- and it is fantastic that it comes early in the season, although I am not sure there is a season for  you! Articulated is impressive.

Thanks Jack, I was certainly pretty surprised finding that myself lol. My season runs about 50 consecutive weeks, I do take off to stone crab two weekends when they first come in season and my buddy visits lol

[Mike from North Queensland]

Congratulations Jeff - wonderful specimen

 

Mike

[oilshale]

Wow, that's a nice find - congrats!

[jcbshark]

On 11/26/2017 at 3:16 AM, Mike from North Queensland said:

Congratulations Jeff - wonderful specimen

 

Mike

 

On 11/28/2017 at 7:17 PM, oilshale said:

Wow, that's a nice find - congrats!

Thank you guys