Evans Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Recently a client of mine showed me a mastodon tooth that had been found east of San Antonio. (See Hunting Trip section "so my uncle found this big tooth thingy" 9/11/08). On a recent and very brief stop at the site I managed to find three calcaneus bones, possibly bison. The reason I am not completely convinced is due to the fact that a cow skull was found about 150 ft downstream, although the cow skull was obviously not fossilized and greatly decayed. However I have no idea how closely the calcaneus of a bison and a cow resemble each other. I also have no idea about the other fourth bone fragment, and how can you determine if a turtle shell fragment is fossilized or not. Thanks for the help. Brian 1 Brian Evans For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 Recently a client of mine showed me a mastodon tooth that had been found east of San Antonio. (See Hunting Trip section "so my uncle found this big tooth thingy" 9/11/08). On a recent and very brief stop at the site I managed to find three calcaneus bones, possibly bison. The reason I am not completely convinced is due to the fact that a cow skull was found about 150 ft downstream, although the cow skull was obviously not fossilized and greatly decayed. However I have no idea how closely the calcaneus of a bison and a cow resemble each other.I also have no idea about the other fourth bone fragment, and how can you determine if a turtle shell fragment is fossilized or not. Thanks for the help. Brian It's "calcaneus" only in the human skeleton. In other animals it's called "calcaneum." It's difficult to ID these bones from images, but you can check out the comparison of cow and bison calcanea in this image (see images with other views, as well). CLICK HERE FOR GALLERY IMAGE http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest solius symbiosus Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 ^^Harry, your knowledge is sorely missed. Hope to see you around more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evans Posted September 12, 2008 Author Share Posted September 12, 2008 Harry Thanks for the great pictures and thank you for the clarification on the terminology. Even with the great pictures I am still having difficulty reaching a firm determination. The finer details almost push me towards cow, but the size according to the pictures say bison. The larger calcaneum is 6.75 in x 3 in and the smaller ones are 5.75 in x 2.5 in.. Would you know if the cow calcaneum can reach this size. Thanks, Brian Brian Evans For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 HarryThanks for the great pictures and thank you for the clarification on the terminology. Even with the great pictures I am still having difficulty reaching a firm determination. The finer details almost push me towards cow, but the size according to the pictures say bison. The larger calcaneum is 6.75 in x 3 in and the smaller ones are 5.75 in x 2.5 in.. Would you know if the cow calcaneum can reach this size. Thanks, Brian I'd say that size here (with so few examples) is a secondary consideration. Try to match by morphology. Are they scaled-up (or down) versions of one another? Do any or all of your calcanea conform to the details of one of the bones in my images? If you still can't decide, your local large-animal veterinarian or college archeology or biology department may have a comparison collection you can use. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evans Posted September 12, 2008 Author Share Posted September 12, 2008 Harry - Thanks again for the advise and the images. Ill let you know when I make a final determination. Brian Brian Evans For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleistoGuy Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 The two first are cow's calcanea. The third are from bison. The outter margin of the sustentaculum in bison forms is curved (continous), and protuberant. In Bos is non protuberant and shaped poorly curved. Greetings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) The fourth bone is a costal from an emydid turtle carapace. Edited September 9, 2013 by RichW9090 The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 The two first are cow's calcanea. The third are from bison. The outter margin of the sustentaculum in bison forms is curved (continous), and protuberant. In Bos is non protuberant and shaped poorly curved. Greetings. Any way to illustrate this for us lay people? It's hard for me to see what you are describing in the pictures. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) Olsen illustrates it in his monograph on postcranial differences between Bison and Bos. The entire paper is available HERE. Edited September 9, 2013 by RichW9090 1 The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htannerpi Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Hi is this topic still going. I have this bone take from the Peace River this past August 2014. I was told it may be the right digit #5 metatarsal of a giant sloth. Any thoughts? Thanks Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Possibly #5, definitely not #6. Might help to post a photo, or to start a new thread about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Are you having trouble posting a picture, htannerpi? The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrake40 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Here's a cool graphic on bison size based on the calcaneus from this talk from the Gray Fossil Site: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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