Victoria B Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 Hello everyone! I have no experience with fossils whatsoever, but this looks like a fossil to me. It is very heavy and feels like a petrified bone / cartilage or shell of some kind. Very peculiar. What is it? I bought it in a second hand shop in Sweden. Thank you in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 This is an inner ear bone called a "bulla" from a cetacean ( whale). To me it looks fairly modern. Perhaps a souvenir from the days of whaling ship expeditions. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 (edited) Wooot!! WOW THANK YOU How old is it? Edited April 11, 2019 by Victoria B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 20 minutes ago, Victoria B said: Wooot!! WOW THANK YOU How old is it? Given the height of whaling, likely not more than 200 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 Aah, so it is no fossil, just a bone. But it is so spooky and beautiful, thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 Not fossil but modern as caldigger said. very cool find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 That is a VERY cool find and is in very good condition. Someone at your local museum can probably give you a Genus and species from the specimen. Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 Ok! I'll write them now and ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 That is one cool find. @Boesse May have some input John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 Thanks! Wrote him a message, we'll see if he answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 1 minute ago, Victoria B said: Thanks! Wrote him a message, we'll see if he answers. Boesse does not log on every day (or week). It may be a while before You get an answer. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 Ok! I'll be patient 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Here are bullas from extinct and modern families of baleen whales. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) Probably, balaenopteridae then? Or parietobalaena? Edited April 12, 2019 by Victoria B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Already responded to a private message, but this is certainly a balaenopterid! Owing to its large size and some other features, this is almost certainly a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) tympanic bulla. The only other candidate is B. physalus (fin whale), but the anatomy isn't quite as close a match as it is for B. musculus. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrR Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Wow, modern or not, it's a neat bone. Out of curiosity, what are its dimension? It does look huge by standards of the fossil bulla(s) I have seen. And as expert, Boesse, said, it's likely from a Blue Whale, which I believe are the world's largest creature. Good find, and you didn't even have to get dirty to find it. Congrat's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria B Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 14 cm x 10 cm x 8 cm (circa 5'5 x 3'9 x 3'15 inches). Weight 740 g / 1.63 lb. It feels such an honour to have it. Incredible I found it there, they never had anything like that before. And how great it is I find you guys to explain all this for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 Whaling was banned in 1986. It may be as young as 33 years old. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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