gemzhub

related to the last post ~Fossilized Pre historic Elephant tooth 🦷🐘

~3.7 KG ~West Java, Indonesia 🇮🇩 ~AVAILABLE.

• floridafossils
• It’s been slow, but I’m still managing to find Mammoth teeth in the river. There is less than two weeks until Floridafossils heads West for the Summer. Stay tuned for some cool adventures! 🐘

wightcoastfossils

A 33 million year old molar from the ancient Oligocene mammal Bothriodon,  lying amongst the shingle on the Island’s northwest coastline.

Around the size of a large pig, Bothriodon was a member of a bizarre group of mammals that thrived on the Island’s Oligocene coastal plain, the anthracotheres.  Ancestors of the modern hippopotamus, anthracotheres first appeared in the Late Eocene in Asia, surviving and thriving until their extinction  2 million years ago! Their fossils are widespread in Oligocene rocks across Europe, Asia and North America and seem to show a close association with ancient wetland environments.

On the Isle Of Wight our Early Oligocene Bouldnor Formation produces the fossils of two different types of anthracothere; the larger Bothriodon and the smaller dog-sized Elomeryx. Their teeth and bones frequently wash up in the shingle and can occasionally be found in-situ within the clays.

These animals probably shared an ecologically similar existence to their descendant the hippopotamus, wading and wallowing in the extensive lakes, ponds and marshlands of the Island’s ancient coastal plain. Their spoon-like incisor teeth perfectly adapted for feeding on the coastal plain’s abundant aquatic plants such as reeds, water lilies and leather ferns. This may in part explain their abundance here, their semi-aquatic lifestyle making carcasses more prone to preservation in the silty muds than the other members of the mammalian fauna.

• Just check out these super weird-looking teeth. These are two molars from a hippo-like creature called Desmostylus Hesperus which cruised the coastal regions of Western North America 15 million years ago. These two teeth are from a fully grown adult Desmostylus and were found in the Middle Miocene Temblor Formation of Fresno County, California. These strange conical-shaped columns that make up their molars would have helped them breakdown the aquatic plants that it would have fed on. If you think these teeth look odd, Desmostylus also sported large tusks as well. This is one strange creature but makes for fascinating fossils!!

palaeoart

fossil_librarian Here’s a look at a large tooth from our collection. This is the lower 3rd molar of “Amebelodon” a 4-tusk elephant-like animal that lived in Montana during the Miocene. This specimen was collected in a gravel pit near Deer Lodge in Powell County. 🐘 Necklace by @designosauryeah 

palaeoart This is a quick video I took in the London Natural History Museum last month. This great display showcases the evolution of Proboscidean molars. Tracking from some of the earliest elephant ancestors - the Eocene Moeritherium - to the more recent but extinct Pleistocene Stegodons and Mammoths. This illustrates 40 million years of molar evolution and how teeth adapted to the different vegetation on offer.

A couple of days ago I had the great luck to swim with a Dugong in the Red Sea, Egypt. The dugong is a medium-sized marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. The dugong is the only strictly marine herbivorous mammal. The dugong is easily distinguished from the manatees by its fluked, dolphin-like tail, but also possesses a unique skull and teeth. Its snout is sharply downturned, an adaptation for feeding in benthic seagrass communities. The molar teeth are simple and peg-like unlike the more elaborate molar dentition of manatees. Dugongs are found in warm coastal waters from the western Pacific Ocean to the eastern coast of Africa, they are generally found in warm waters around the coast with large numbers concentrated in wide and shallow protected bays.