Fossil rib bone

[garyc]

I may be spinning my wheels here, but does there happen to be a rib expert out there? This is a Pleistocene river gravel find from SE Texas. Thanks for looking

[M3gal0don_M4n]

Ribs are something I know very little about, however I did some searching of creatures in the area it was found and their fossils and the closest I could find was a Mammuthus primigenius rib, but I am unsure.

Edited Saturday at 08:44 PM by M3gal0don_M4n

[Shellseeker]

@garyc

I have been known to take some shots in the dark.  These ribs have some similarity to marine mammal

 

I even found some dolphin ribs and if I can find it, have a Kogiopsis rib with similar attachment details

 

[garyc]

@Shellseeker thank you. I don’t know of any marine mammal finds from the Brazos River so I think we can rule this out

[garyc]

@M3gal0don_M4n the rib head of mine might look a bit like mammoth, but I think size alone would rule through. Here’s a side by side with a Proboscidean rib fragment 

[Brandy Cole]

@garyc I can't help much other than to say I'm pretty sure I have one just like it at home that I can post later.  

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, garyc said:

@M3gal0don_M4n the rib head of mine might look a bit like mammoth, but I think size alone would rule through. Here’s a side by side with a Proboscidean rib fragment 

 

Gary, It is not your first time around this hunt.  I assume you know the Common mid sized land mammals in your Pleistocene hunting area.. It is not Mammoth, Mastodon, Sloth, Horse, rhino, wolf, or any marine mammal.

What else have you eliminated and what is left to eliminate... Big Cats ?  I found this photo on Wikipedia and could not eliminate Smilodon Fatalis....  Sounds like a good one to check out unless you have already done so,

But then, finding a rib that no one can identify... that is not so bad either.

 

[garyc]

@Shellseeker the problem is I don’t have a lot of material in hand or online to compare ribs. Funny you should bring up Smilodon because I actually did consider it and found an image online. It looks similar. However, I cannot say with confidence that it is from a big cat.

[Jaybot]

This thread reminds me of how I have boxes of various bones (including ribs) that I have yet to try to ID.  I typically only ID the teeth, jaws, and 'interesting' bones that I find; makes me wonder if I got saber cat or Casteroides bones laying in a box 

 

@garyc, first of all nice bones in your profile pic!  A sloth claw is a dream find for me.

As for your rib, have you considered some sort of deer rib?  Looks somewhat like yours, but I feel like this is also likely an incorrect ID.  Found these pics of modern bones on the net:

 

 

 

 

[garyc]

@Jaybotdeer is certainly a candidate. The size seems right and they were certainly a more plentiful creature than the big cats

[Brandy Cole]

Gary, here's the comparison rib head that I found in my unidentified odds and ends box.  At the time I found it, I thought it was too big to be deer, but I've never personally butchered a deer, so maybe one of our hunter members would have more insight on that.

 

 

[Brandy Cole]

Now that I've compared them in more detail, I'm not certain they're the same after all.

[Shellseeker]

I have been looking for larger cervids. Have you found ribs from Camelops, or other camelids.  3 inches does seem large for individual deer ribs

[Brandy Cole]

@Shellseeker I'm uncertain what camelops ribs would look like, but camelid material is common here, so it's an interesting possibility.

[Shellseeker]

26 minutes ago, Brandy Cole said:

@Shellseeker I'm uncertain what camelops ribs would look like, but camelid material is common here, so it's an interesting possibility.

Here is MODERN Llama... rib head too Small to be your find. We need to see a Texas Camelops rib. There were Camelops at Halls cave Texas

 

 

Texas Pleistocene loss of fauna.. Hall's cave, Texas

[Jaybot]

Elk is also a possibility 

[Brandy Cole]

This thread had some good discussion an comparative examples.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, Jaybot said:

Elk is also a possibility 

1.  

Closer and closer:  These are modern , similar proximal ends and approximated 3 inch length of the proximal end. Also Elk existed in the Texas Pleistocene.  The groove coming up the outside of the rib. 

 

[garyc]

I don’t think I’ve found any elk fossils here although it may be possible. I have found quite a bit of camel, so that’s a possibility. As far as ribs go , I don’t find many with diagnostic features. So far the only rib bones I’ve found that have been definitively identified are Proboscidean and sloth