thefossilkid Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Hello everyone, I'm sure it's just wishful thinking, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. I got this Juvenile Edmontosaurus tibia a few days ago. It measures 12 1/8" long, When I was inspecting it, I saw this concaved indent, along with a few scratches. Are these just natural erosion/wear, or could they be something? Only thing that has me thinking predation is this was from a very small Dino, so I would think it would have had a better chance dying of predation vs natural causes. But who knows! Thanks! Jake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mediospirifer Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I don't know about the pit, and I'm hardly an expert. It's certainly an intriguing hypothesis. The scratches, to my eye, look a bit like gnaw marks from rodents. I've seen deer antlers that were chewed on by chipmunks, and the marks are similar. I don't know when rodents evolved, but proto-mammals appear in the fossil record around the same time as the first dinosaurs. Just tossing that suggestion out for consideration. Cool fossil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bone2stone Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Predation indications are sometimes difficult to diagnose. Although the markings on your specimen may be as such, there is nothing screaming "Bite Marks". The predator or scavenger markings are usually more pronounced and these are very small. Lets take the small scavenger into consideration as previously suggested. This may or may not be the case but it is cool to think it could be. Jess B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xevanatorx Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I don't know about the pit either, but in my opinion, those scratches definitely look like predatory marks to me, I am no expert though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts