Shellseeker Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I have looked at detailed photos of the Colombian and Imperial Mammoth teeth. http://www.paleodirect.com/pgset2/lmx049.htm and http://www.paleodirect.com/pgset2/lm8-069.htm. I can not tell the difference - I think some TFF experts likely can. I wondered about this because a while back. my grand niece found this nice 3 segment fragment in the Peace River. Note the deep groves on the sides and the deep groves on occlusal surface on the 1st 2 photos. To me this seems unusual -- a friend has 8 mammoth fragments, but only one has similar deep groves. The 2nd 2 photos are the more normal Mammoth tooth that I have seen. So the question looking for an answer. Have others noted this, what is the cause? normal wear differences, different species, pathological or something else. Thanks SS The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 A lot of it has to do with the degree of wear on the tooth and what tooth it is. I read a good article on how to tell the difference in species a while back, but I can't remember if it was online or in a book I have somewhere. I'll look around a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantguy Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 It is hard to determine species. A number of measurements are needed to do this. Some of these factors are number of plates,lamellar frequency, enamel thickness,hypsodonty,absolute size. and length/width index.There is a book by Vincent Maglio called orgin and evolution of the elephantidae that explains each factor and has charts for each species. They had 6 sets of teeth so the chart has each of the 6 sets upper and lower. You can narrow down by area. Most likely it is columbian but could be either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 An answer to the mystery of VERY different occlusal surfaces between the 2 mammoth teeth.. -- my lack of knowledge and skill related to Mastodons. looking at Photo #1, the occlusal surface is unused and on the left.. The roots are on the right of photo #1 and in full focus for photo #2. I went to the Tampa Bay Fossil show and Richard Hulbert pointed this out immediately. Thanks to both responders. SS The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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