Queenpup found an enormous vertebrae!!! ID please?

[MamaSheepdog]

Queenpup just has a knack for finding the neatest stuff. Usually native American artifacts, but this is something else altogether. :shock:

Any ideas what it could be from? opcorn:

I thought mastodons were extinct in these here parts...

 

[dayna]

My parents had a whale vertibre that looked a lot like that.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

That's what I ws thinking... but we are awfully far from the ocean for a whale to beach itself here. :?

I'm going to email the people that own the property adjacent to us. They live in San Pedro, so maybe they brought the bone up here and our dogs stole it.

 

[PSFAngoras]

:rotfl:

Sneaky pups!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Cow? I mean cows get goshdangfreakinginormous, especially holstiens here anyhow. I mean with the cows hips up at head height the spine has to be huge as well.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Sneaky pups!

BAD dogs is more like it. Gallivanting around, stealing people's things. Tsk!

Cow? I mean cows get goshdangfreakinginormous, especially holstiens here anyhow.

No- way too big for a cow, even a Holstein. We have an Elk spine here right now, and it is 1/10th the size, if that.

No word back yet from our neighbor... opcorn:

 

[Schipperkesue]

I would also suggest a whale vertebrae. It is possible someone picked it up from an ocean locale and brought it home and your pooch lifted it from them?<br /><br />__________ Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:21 pm __________<br /><br />Oops... I see you have already suspected this!

 

[DogCatMom]

The Central Valley of California was once the bottom of an inland sea. I don't know how deep that inland sea was, but many of the hills, foothills, and older mountains in the state may have been submerged at the time, or may have risen due to tectonic action later.

Whale would work, but so would certain dinosaurs and, just maybe, those mastodons....

 

[LilacGal]

Email the closest zoo or natural history museum and they should be able to identify it. My guess due to it's size and location is a whale.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

My San Pedro neighbor emailed back, and it isn't a bone they brought up here.

The Central Valley of California was once the bottom of an inland sea. I don't know how deep that inland sea was, but many of the hills, foothills, and older mountains in the state may have been submerged at the time, or may have risen due to tectonic action later.

Wouldn't the bone be brown if it was that old?

Whale would work, but so would certain dinosaurs and, just maybe, those mastodons....

It isn't fossilized, so not a dinosaur (I hope!)... maybe it is a mastodon. Methinks we need to add an elephant gun to our arsenal! :gun:

 

[3mina]

I vote whale, mastodon would be discoloured too

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I vote whale, mastodon would be discoloured too

Not if we have a hidden secret pocket of pachyderms here!

The last vestige of the species that were smart enough to avoid the La Brea tar pits, thriving here in my very own community... :roll:

 

[HoppinHalfPints]

Not if we have a hidden secret pocket of pachyderms here!

The last vestige of the species that were smart enough to avoid the La Brea tar pits, thriving here in my very own community... :roll:

Hey, maybe I could come up in them thar hills and do some ahuntin with cha? :gun: :lilbunny: I like da look of that vertebrae.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Wow... i guess i was seein the number on it wrong. Darn phone brought it up all blurry.

Ya i would have to say whale. But recent, not more than 10, 15 yrs i would guess from findin bones on the farm. Whats bothering me is how pretty and whole and evenly sunbleached it is. In ohio it would have to have some staining from laying on the ground. But then thats ohio vs cali! Haha.

 

[Zass]

Could I borrow the pic to ask on another website? Or perhaps your could post it on another page for me to link to? I talk to a lot of people with experience at this type of thing.

 

[Lastfling]

Years ago, while in school, I took a field trip to the phosphate mines in eastern NC. Phosphate is mined open pit which unearthed a lot of bone from the cretaceous period (I believe). Somewhere in the basement of my folks house there is a whale vertebrae which I found during that trip that was unearthed during the mining. It looks remarkably similar to your find. Even though the bones were buried at a depth of approximately 30-40 feet or more they were still white in color. So, with all that being said - my vote is Whale.

 

[Peach]

That is so cool!

 

[CWD]

MSD in the area you live, there is a place called shark tooth moutain.
my oldest son took a feild trip there once he came home with a few shark teeth he dug up.
so it could be from a whale. there have also been some mastodons found in Kern County
the bones were sun bleached like the one you have, something to do with the minerals in the area.
have you tryed contacting any of the colleges. Im sure they could get you in contact with some one
who could shed some light on this, just be careful, because they may want to dig up your place
to see if they could find the rest of the bones.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The Central Valley of California was once the bottom of an inland sea. I don't know how deep that inland sea was, but many of the hills, foothills, and older mountains in the state may have been submerged at the time, or may have risen due to tectonic action later.

Good point. We are at an elevation of 4350. We have had several earthquakes recently, but nothing major.

Hey, maybe I could come up in them thar hills and do some ahuntin with cha? :gun:

Yeah! How many rabbits would equal one mammoth? Think of all the meat... we'll need some more freezers... :roll:

In ohio it would have to have some staining from laying on the ground. But then thats ohio vs cali!

Yeah- it's dry as a... well, dry as a bone here.

Could I borrow the pic to ask on another website? Or perhaps your could post it on another page for me to link to? I talk to a lot of people with experience at this type of thing.

Please do. Or if you want to PM me your email, I could email it directly to you if that makes it easier.

I took a field trip to the phosphate mines in eastern NC. Phosphate is mined open pit which unearthed a lot of bone from the cretaceous period (I believe). Somewhere in the basement of my folks house there is a whale vertebrae which I found during that trip that was unearthed during the mining. It looks remarkably similar to your find. Even though the bones were buried at a depth of approximately 30-40 feet or more they were still white in color. So, with all that being said - my vote is Whale.

Is it really dry there? I imagine the soil needs to be moist most of the time for the bones to absorb tannins (I assume it would be tannins?) to make them brown?

That is so cool!

Isn't it?!? Queenpup has a knack for finding stuff- she is always looking at the ground (when hiking or trail riding, not in town) and spots things that the rest of us just walk right past.

MSD in the area you live, there is a place called shark tooth moutain.

I've heard of Shark Tooth, but we haven't ever gone there.

the bones were sun bleached like the one you have, something to do with the minerals in the area.

Hmm. The soil is decomposed granite primarily.

have you tryed contacting any of the colleges.

I sold a puppy to a lady that works at CSU Bakersfield. I'll email her and see if she knows who would be best to look at it.

just be careful, because they may want to dig up your place to see if they could find the rest of the bones.

That might not be such a bad thing. One of the careers Queenpup is considering is being an archaeologist, so she could participate in that.

I'd be worried if our property was still virgin land, but we already live here, so I don't think we can get booted out. Can we? (This is Commiefornia, after all...)

 

[MaggieJ]

Very cool find, MSD. Queenpup has a knack, for sure!

When MidnightCoder was a kid he found an interesting big bone. We contacted the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and they invited us to bring it in for identification. Turned out it was just a cow bone, but they walked us through how they identified it. It was fascinating.