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Fossil shark teeth hunt in New Zealand - 60myo formation


mamlambo

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I've always wanted to find some fossil shark teeth but never knew what to look for or where to go. After some research, I made a sieve and headed out to the hills of North Canterbury, New Zealand, to have a fossick around. The formation is about 60myo and is famous for the giant penguin and bird fossils that have been found in the vicinity.

 

The first two hours were a bust as I sifted through some debris at likely looking sites, I did get a bit excited about a piece of bone I found which I think is from a rabbit on closer inspection. As I was filling the last bucket, I spotted a white dot in the cliff... my first shark tooth! It was about 1cm long, tiny but still a shark tooth!

 

After switching to eyeballing instead of sifting, I found two more! One smaller and one larger shark tooth, the larger one showing a bit of damage but good details.

 

All in all, I really enjoyed being out and actually finding a fossil shark tooth. If anyone can point me in the right direction to figure out what species it could be, please let me know! Or if you have some tips on finding shark teeth more efficiently, I'd love to hear about them.

 

I made a 10min video of the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kwqRWARWJk

 

I've included some photos I took that day.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, CousinLarry said:

Cool! Looks like a sand tiger maybe?

It could be! I'm busy reading up on it. Thanks for the tip!

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Nice pieces, especially with the matrix. Does look like a sand tiger, a few species of them in the Paleocene.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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31 minutes ago, RJB said:

You live in a great place with so many different types of fossils!   Good luck

 

RB

Thanks RB! Heading out that way again today, so there might still be an update :)

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