Vertebra…. ID assistance request.

[Balance]

Hello, All 🙂
 

Found this sitting on the riverbed while crossing a shallow section a month ago or so. Same spot I found a bovid cervical vert trip Before. Tossed it in the boat as a modern cow thoracic to identify “which one”. Saved it for a day when the temps cold and the water is up. 
 

That’s today, only problem is I can’t find a vertebra with a fork in it to save my life. Cow, horse, camel , oxen… no forked thoracic. 
 

Can bovids of different breeds have different vertebrae characteristics? Is this not a thoracic vert? Where too next?? 
 

its 7.5” long and 3” wide with the broken piece added back into the measurement. That’s 187mm ish long… 

 

Peace River , Florida 

modern thru Miocene 

 

Thanks for any insight or suggestions. Appreciate the feedback 

 

Jp

 

 

[fossilus]

Pathologic? I've never seen anything like this.

[johnnyvaldez7.jv]

That's unusual for sure. I haven't seen that either.

[Balance]

I’m limited with using the word pathology.  so correct me if I’m off target. 
 

As an farrier, the “pathological” stuff I’ve dealt with is arthritis/deterioration related in modern day equine lower limb joints. It’s also “funky” and unpredictable in the way the regenerative repairs turn into hardened osteophytes. 
 

So the symmetry of this makes disease or injury repair questionable to me. ?? Mostly the symmetry. Symmetry is intentional with both man and nature because it’s “balanced “ Can pathology refer to a natural change? 
 

I looked into cattle like Brahmas. Huge humps on the bulls. I figured maybe that breed has a different makeup to support that hump. Florida cattle are at least half Brahma to help with heat/moisture tolerance. Seemed like a solid idea but they just have pathologically ugly thoracic verts. 
 

Jp

[jpc]

Pathological in this business refers to abnormal growth in a bone/shell/tooth.  That split neural spine is indeed weird.  Not sure if it pathological.... but it is weird. 

 

[CDiggs]

Definitely new to me, but a google search of Neural Spine Bifurcation turned up this publication and diagram.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Vertebrae-exhibiting-neural-spine-bifurcation-within-the-four-year-old-Ankole-Watusi-cow_fig6_261770043

[ClearLake]

That is a strange one.  After looking online at a lot of vertebrae, you can find some (goats, horses, cows, etc) that have a split spinous process at the very top, but nothing as dramatic as yours.  I'm pretty certain it is not a trait of any species or subspecies, it has to be the result of some pathology/malformation/etc.  Very cool though.  Oh, I see @CDiggs has found a good example.

[Balance]

I’m currently working a night shift in the shop but that research paper you linked looks great. If it continues to reads as I hope, introducing long backed Brahma influence with a short backed influence like angus would result in overloading these processes. Excited to read further since “Brangus” is kinda our state cow. 
 

You all rock!  All about searching the right words. “Forked thoracic” vrs “bifurcated neural arch” … thanks for tolerating me 😂😂😂

 

Thank you. I’ll update if I find anything out 

 

Jp

[Balance]

Started today with a coffee and a little “light” reading.  Of all the research papers so far this one is actually extremely easy to follow. A good amount of the specifically micro anatomy was over my head but the general macro anatomy was on track. 
 

If you’re interested in why these bifurcated neural arches happen on a full information scale I’d recommend reading the article in it’s entirety. 
 

In summary: 

 

The bifurcation is an evolutionary adaptation to weight distribution of the animal. It’s frequently present in not only bovids but also cervids and even is apart of human evolution as well. 
 

In the case with my vert it’s an issue of breeding cattle for maximum meat development. The crossing of breeds is important in this issue but more important is the crossing of Bos Taurus with Bos indicus subspecies. Cattle production worldwide is largely being refocused into areas of tropical climate. Traditional Bos Taurus breeds are temperate cattle vrs Bos indicus which are a tropical cattle. Adding heavier indicus influence helps traditional beef producing breeds to adapt to the changing environment. 
 

Example: breeding a Bos indicus Brahma with a Bos Taurus Angus to create a Brangus breed. Additionally, ranchers add Beefmaster genetics to this cross add even more mass to the animal. 
 

The bifurcation is the result of the animal having to carry greater mass above or in front of the rhomboid muscle (withers or above the shoulder). It’s interestingly that it’s earliest noting is in dinosaur anatomy but as related here the real reason seems to be that the Nuchal ligament hasn’t evolved on pace with the vertebrae.  In animals like giraffes with offset neck weight the nuchal ligament  symmetrically increases mass towards the wither providing an “blanket” of strength to aid in support. In cattle specifically the nuchal ligament seems to have stayed relatively unchanged in mass. With modern selective breeding it’s actually been unintentionally reduced in mass. 
 

So basically they are breeding cows “front heavy” and the mammalian body is doing the incredible thing it does to keep them in … Balance  -

 

(almost like yesterday someone explained this exact thing to me regarding mammals evolutionary lost teeth) 

 

Heres a photo of the cross breed “Brangus” in the upper panel. Notice the disproportionate mass in front of the withers. —— lower panel is “Brangus” with “Beefmaster” added into the gene pool.  Whoa! off balance!!
 

(Insert sarcasm for international members) I can’t imagine why the spine is freaking out and trying to evolve 😉😉 

 

Here’s an image to help visualize the neural ligaments and the vast difference in support. Figure A is a indicus type Bos and B is Taurus type Bos.  
 

Yen and Yang, right. Nature says, “I’ll give you heat tolerance with the breed cross  but for the price of less  ligament support…  -  horses and giraffes are already evolved to heavy heads and necks. 

Here’s a great image showing other species making this evolutionary change. You’ll recognize some for sure.  Did you know humans made this change long ago to support our brains inside this wobbly head we had? Some antelope and Elk have this issue because of the weight of their horns. Nature finds a way… 

 

In my horseshoeing work I deal with triangles a lot. That’s not a taught thing for farriers but I’m neurodivergent and my brain can scale triangle and reposition loads really easily when it comes to balancing a joint or the limb to to animal. I also oddly have dead accurate Fibonacci scale by eye. Yen and Yang, right. Lol
 

T-6 - T-10 are the verts that typically bifurcate.

Fulcrum load opposition…  follow the opposite fulcrum and I bet you hit that C5 and C4 that are often noted as bifurcating as well. 

😊

 

Jp 

sorry for the mark up example. Gotta head to work and don’t have time to print one. 

 

Edited January 30 by Balance
Always fixing typos and grammar

[jpc]

very interesting.  Thanks for showing us what you found... bone and info.