New Members Fancy Posted February 22, 2022 New Members Share Posted February 22, 2022 Hello All. Long time lurker, new member. I appreciate your expertise. Backstory on these is a friend of mines husband passed away. He collected fossils. We are trying to identify them. Thanks to this site I have been able to figure out most of what he has. However, these two skulls have me stumped. This skull looks manufactured to me. The "bone" under the eye sockets looks totally fake. I have searched the internet and found one that looked the same. Only one. And that one (Different from the one I have) was from an online sale. I dont have much information on it. I have looked at every Lynx and cat skull on the internet. cant find anything with those bony protrusions under the eye sockets. Will Post the second skull in a following post. Some concerns I see, The large canines, one side is much larger than the other. (Replacement?) Those huge under eye socket protrusions. Theres lots of repairs on it. I assume this is from China. I have found no paperwork on them. Any help, suggestions or direction to take my search will be appreciated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearLake Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Well, that is an interesting specimen and way out of my area of knowledge to ID. I’ll just add a couple of observations. The “eye wing” is called a zygomatic arch and the left one looks like it has partial bone (cream colored in back) and then some brighter white filler in front. On some cats, they can be pretty pronounced, so it may be close to properly positioned or it could be mispositioned/exaggerated in the restoration. Hard to tell, but the right side could be totally recreated. The two sized teeth (canines) in the front is not necessarily an issue, many animals of this type have much larger upper canines than lowers (think of fangs). Having said that, there is lots of filler around these teeth, so there could be some issue on their originality but it would not be just on the size difference without knowing the specific ID of this (which, as I mentioned, I unfortunately do not know). Hopefully someone will be along shortly that is more familiar with this fauna and can help you with an ID on both of your skulls. They certainly could use a little TLC in the prep department! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Fancy Posted February 22, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted February 22, 2022 Thanks for your comments. Yeah I think they are a bit on the rough side as well I don’t dare try to clean them up though! Maybe if I decide to trade/buy them from my friend I will learn how to do it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Fancy Posted February 23, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted February 23, 2022 If no one has an idea of what this is, where do I start to look for someone I can take it to for identification? I have done internet searches but am not finding anything. I am in southern CA. Not knowing the species is ok but is it a cat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilus Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Also not an expert, but could it be hyena? Skull doesn't really hit me as cat, it seems like it is more massive like a bone cruncher. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearLake Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 I’m guessing this will be pretty tough given it’s cindition and lack of locality info unless you find someone that recognizes the style of preservation. With that, let’s see if @oilshale, @LordTrilobite, or @MarcoSr can offer an opinion. As to where to take it. Given that you are in Southern California, I would suggest the La Brea Museum as a good starting point. I was only there once, 30 years ago so I have no idea what they offer as far as help with ID’s, but they should have folks that know mammals and maybe can offer an opinion. Good luck and let us know what you find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorne Ledger Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 My first impression assuming it is from China - Hyena skull The Paige Museum at Rancho La Brea won't be able to help you with this, Dr Chris Shaw has retired. But I do suggest you call either the San Bernardino or Redlands Museums and see if you can arrange for someone to look at it. I used to have contacts at all these places but sadly most of the people I know have either retired or died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilshale Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 I also think your assumption is correct, this looks like a typical Chinese "reconstruction" (generous use of putty). The piece could be from the Miocene to Pleistocene of Gansu province. But that is unfortunately all I can say about the piece - I know little about mammals. Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Fancy Posted February 24, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted February 24, 2022 Thank you all! I will call the San Bernardino museum and see if someone there can help me with them. I will update. I appreciate the help. I am more into plant fossils than mammals so this is a learning journey for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 18 hours ago, ClearLake said: I’m guessing this will be pretty tough given it’s cindition and lack of locality info unless you find someone that recognizes the style of preservation. With that, let’s see if @oilshale, @LordTrilobite, or @MarcoSr can offer an opinion. As to where to take it. Given that you are in Southern California, I would suggest the La Brea Museum as a good starting point. I was only there once, 30 years ago so I have no idea what they offer as far as help with ID’s, but they should have folks that know mammals and maybe can offer an opinion. Good luck and let us know what you find out. Buy a cheap black light flashlight and look at the skull under UV. That will really help you see restoration. Lots of things just don't look right to me. What is there looks more like hyena than cat to me also. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Fancy Posted February 25, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted February 25, 2022 Well I have to laugh. I called the San Bernardino museum and a nice lady told me that that would be their Earth Services Curator…. Then she told me “but, we don’t have one right now. Maybe call back in a month?” I will search all the museums here that have fossils listed on their websites. Maybe I will get lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorne Ledger Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 6 hours ago, Fancy said: Well I have to laugh. I called the San Bernardino museum and a nice lady told me that that would be their Earth Services Curator…. Then she told me “but, we don’t have one right now. Maybe call back in a month?” I will search all the museums here that have fossils listed on their websites. Maybe I will get lucky. Oh dear, that saddens me. There is a museum up in Bakersfield, I think. There is also one in San Diego. I would try back at San Bernardino again tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Hello Again, I am quite confident in saying this is not an american fossil, probably from China, maybe Hezheng in Gansu province like Oilshale said. This one being a rather heavily reconstructed Hyaena and your second one being a less reconstructed Ictitherium seems very plausible to me. Not saying that it is exactly Dinocrocuta, maybe @edd can add something, having taken a close look at chinese Hyaenas? http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/60539-sabertooth’s-bane-introducing-dinocrocuta/ Best regards Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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