This week I have a mystery object for you to have a go at identifying which may be tricky (or it might be easy – let’s find out):
Any ideas what it might be and what it might be from?
Friday mystery object #389
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
Zygoma 
A saddle?
Not so much
i ‘m sure one can handle it,
it goes up and down,
but to whom does it belong ?
Definitely on the right track
Patella if I know.
Sorry, my attempt to be humerus off the top of my head.
i kneed to know, but kick me backwards if i don’t know
does it rhyme with nutella?
NOT a cycloid fish scale (though that was my first thought). Size would help.
About 15cm wide. It’s from sort of a fish that can drown.
Pangolin scale?
i think it may belong to a true cold monster
I thought patella too. But the bone perforations’ size suggested it’d be maximum mammal size, and the kneecaps of huge mammals aren’t particularly sesamoid.
I thought it might be an extinct patella, but the colour is from whale grease.
What is the size of this? I mean – I did run a tractor with a seat this shape… but if it’s only an inch, I wouldn’t be able to use it.
You could probably sit on it – at least size wise 😉
I know this is nuts – it looks a bit like a shelf mushroom.
Just a thought. Could that bright blaze be a butchery mark?
It’s certainly possible. Probably not butchery prescisely, but may well have been flensed.
Did we decide on size? Could this be an animal scale – pangolin or ???
Without trying to mystify anyone i would say 35 to 40 cm
Good estimate!
A patella from some ungulate? It has such an extended protrusion.
Did this guy go to market?
I don’t think so, unless perhaps Billingsgate.
Just starting to think this was the one that might have got away Capt. Ahab.
This silly American had to look up what a Billingsgate was. Thinking it was some scandal like Watergate. Ha. Ha.
What about a bowhead whale sternum ?
Good one – Once I had the clue on size. I was looking at the whale occipital and then realized I should be looking at it upside down. Or – right side up!
Pretty close
I think I got the Right Whale..
Sorry, wrong whale 😉
OK – I am going to narrow it down to say it is from a baleen whale sternum.
Is it extinct? I mean… I know THIS one in particular is dead, but… in general?
I definitively am crawling around in circles. Supraoccipital of a blue whale skull? I’m just about at the end here.
WELL! I certainly didn’t have the right whale… and kept jumping around on this one. The size was the issue at first. I should have stayed with the tractor seat guess!