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Tj's Elephant Tooth Part Question


tracer

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um, tj has this thing in his collection. we have both seen a semi-fair, probably-actually-relatively-good-for-texas amount of mammoth material. for that reason, we know this came from the mouthly area of a mammothus pre-columbusiani. but the "yeah, but" aspect of the thing is where we fail and hence why you are being burdened with our uncertainty and indecision.

hypothetically speaking, tj thinks it might be some sort of weird root part that we've never seen before. i think it might be some weird embryonic tooth that hadn't developed yet. tc thinks it looks tasty, whatever it is. i think his exact words were, "man, my ancestors may have had a tough time hunting, but when they pulled it off, they could eat forever!"

so anyway, the pictures are not necessarily oriented in an appropriate way, depending on what the thing actually is. the "top" seems to have numerous little "buds" of enamel poking through cementum. the "bottom" is hollow, and you can view one or two little "uvula"-looking thingees in it like you see in the bottom root area of some bovid teeth. i apologize for the picture quality but the home hollister/aeropostale/abercrombie budget continues to preclude my purchasing a camera befitting my status in life, plus one of the few benefits of being the forum fool is that i don't feel obligated to practice what i preach regarding image quality. <sigh>

post-488-0-54732700-1320590118_thumb.jpgpost-488-0-63859400-1320590120_thumb.jpg

post-488-0-41283400-1320590122_thumb.jpgpost-488-0-00829700-1320590124_thumb.jpg

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Mammoth milk-tooth?

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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that's what i'm hoping, but i've been wrong before, like at least thirty-leven times...this week.

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Too many buds for that.. I got nothing... Bovatherium tracerius

"A man who asks is a fool for five minutes. A man who never asks is a fool for life".

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Bison!!

I have no idea, but is that peanut butter inbetween the cusplets, or matrix or bone or cementum or what?

i feel fairly certain that is cementum.

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OK, now use your imagination and look at the pics of these neonatal elephant teeth and especially the enamel plates in the second link. I don't know if Mammoth teeth looked the same during the embryonic periods, but I bet they were close.http://www.colyerinstitute.org/elephant_references/captivity_disorders_2.htm

http://www.colyerinstitute.org/research/elephant_dental_pulp.htm I think you have a tooth from an unborn or neonatal mammoth, maybe.

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OK, now use your imagination and look at the pics of these neonatal elephant teeth and especially the enamel plates in the second link. I don't know if Mammoth teeth looked the same during the embryonic periods, but I bet they were close.http://www.colyerins...disorders_2.htm

http://www.colyerins...dental_pulp.htm I think you have a tooth from an unborn or neonatal mammoth, maybe.

I think you are onto something.. Looks like a match to me..

How exciting!!

Welcome to the forum!

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I have what I've considered is an unerupted juvenile mammoth tooth. It is more developed than yours, but shows some of the same characteristics. (5" x 3.25" x 2.5")

post-420-0-15206100-1320609725_thumb.jpg

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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OMG! it may actually be that tj finally found something cool that seemed disorganized and juvenile, like his dad!

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Yes, this is an unerupted portion of a mammoth tooth. Mammoth teeth, like mastodon teeth, were replaced from the back of the jaw moving forward. So, part of the tooth could have been above the gum line and show wear, while a portion of the tooth was still below the gum lime and show no wear.

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i'm still not clear on what the age/development of the animal would have been, ie whether it was a fetal animal, baby or even an adult with a very tiny germination of a tooth starting?(!) the "buds" on the top seem to have been aligning into rows, which makes sense if they were to become the plates of a fully developed tooth. but the broken-off root area is enamel all the way around, and not differentiated into multiple plates of enamel laminated together by cementum. at any rate, it's a very cool thing for tj to have in his collection and we appreciate all the input on it.

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What an awesome tooth and incredible find. Tracer, congratulations to tj!!!

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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What an awesome tooth and incredible find. Tracer, congratulations to tj!!!

thank you and i'll make sure he gets it. he's probably following this topic because i told him it was posted.

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Any chance it could be mastodon on account of the mastos instead of ridges?

no, no chance. the texture of it is classic mammoth.

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i'm still not clear on what the age/development of the animal would have been, ie whether it was a fetal animal, baby or even an adult with a very tiny germination of a tooth starting?(!) the "buds" on the top seem to have been aligning into rows, which makes sense if they were to become the plates of a fully developed tooth. but the broken-off root area is enamel all the way around, and not differentiated into multiple plates of enamel laminated together by cementum. at any rate, it's a very cool thing for tj to have in his collection and we appreciate all the input on it.

I would classify it as juvenile due to the size.

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I would classify it as juvenile due to the size.

ok, thanks. it really means a lot to us to have information about our finds.

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