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Found In A Palm Beach Sinkhole


Frank Menser

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This fragment I found in a dug out sink hole in the "Holey Lands" off US 27 in West Palm Beach. It measures 52 mm. It was found in association with Mammoth, Mastodon, giant and lesser Sloths, Sabre cat, Equis, deer and several smaller mammals and reptile remains (see first pic). I have wondered if this might be a sloth claw with it's tip worn down.

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Be true to the reality you create.

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Can't tell for sure, but I can see why you think it may be. Hare's a cast of a sloth claw. By the way, VERY nice looking sloth tooth in the center of the first photo! Never seen one that color.

Nick

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Funny thing about that sloth tooth. Was walking the site with a friend who was a Geology major and one Hell of a good hunter. It was raining he stepped right over it (the tooth was in plain sight) because he thought it was part of a wood 2 x 4!

This was a dredging project where they were digging an extention to a canal in the glades. The project cut through an ancient sink hole. We IDed 14 species of mammal and as many reptile, Bird and fish sps. The bad news was most of the bones wer fragmented. We figure that some of the larger animals who fell into the hole did not die right off and their movements did the damage.

All the fossils in the riker mount and the Equis neck vert were found at that site as well.

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Be true to the reality you create.

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Guest bmorefossil
Funny thing about that sloth tooth. Was walking the site with a friend who was a Geology major and one Hell of a good hunter. It was raining he stepped right over it (the tooth was in plain sight) because he thought it was part of a wood 2 x 4!

yea i have been on both sides of that situation, well yesterday i was a foot away from a paleocarcharodon and BRF Tom found it but on the other side when i was with tropical we both walked over my hex tooth because we thought it was a leaf lol thats why you should always pick up everything. Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what your gonna get.

Oh and how could i forget that i did it to my dad just a few weeks ago

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I love the variation. Here are Mastodon tooth fragments (1st pic) from Greenville NC, and from the same place as the Sloth tooth (3rd pic) Holey lands WPB FL. The second pic is Mastodon (or Mammoth) tusk over a foot long-also from the Holey Lands. Note the brown spots on the rock-more bone fragments.

*by the way, it is called the holey Lands because of all the Gator holes.

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Be true to the reality you create.

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Guest bmorefossil

hey frank can you tell me what makes the tusk a tusk and not something like petwood?

Thanks

Steve

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Im with bmore. I dont see the growth lines on the end, that would be like circles, or lines going in a v shape from end to end. Not that they are not there, just cant see any in the photo though. Im no tooth expert by any means, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

RB

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Sure guys. In person, it is very obvious that this is fossil ivory. The look, feel and texture are unmistakeable. My friend found a complete tusk section and another large piece that was mostly impression (on display at the Aurora museum) with ivory frags. The very light color makes it hard to see the growth lines, but as the other photos show this light colored preservation was common at the site.

Be true to the reality you create.

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