This week I’ve got a nice mystery object for you to identify from the Dead Zoo:
Any idea what this might be? The more specific you can be, the more kudos points you earn!
Friday mystery object #488
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
This week I’ve got a nice mystery object for you to identify from the Dead Zoo:
Any idea what this might be? The more specific you can be, the more kudos points you earn!
Zygoma 
Damn! That’s a tricky one…fossil tooth of some kind of very large herbivore? Well and truly stumped!
Well, you’re halfway there. Not a fossil!
Could it be a very worn chomper from a woolly unicorn king missing its crown?
Closer still…
….although there’s no root to that idea.
I don’t now what it is but I’ll have a guess.
It is blade shaped without cusps, so the incisor of a large animal seems possible (I’m ruling out a Thylacoleo premolar on the basis of the the broad wear facet on the occlusal surface and single root).
The root is really short so I’m guessing its a deciduous incisor.
Horses are large mammals with incisors of this sort of shape. If it were a horse it would be a third incisor because of its less square crown. As the high point (presumed mesial side) is on the left side it is probably a right incisor.
So my guess is a right deciduous incisor three of a horse.
Upon reflection the mystery tooth is way too big to be a horse. Perhaps Chris Jarvis was on the right track (though I’ll stand by the other parts of my ID).
Lovely bit of reasoning! Although it’s not a deciduous tooth.
Oh, so republicans-in-name-only have weirdly short incisor roots? Did not know that.
Maybe the toe nail of something with 3 toes 🙂
Well, the 3 toes is good, but it’s not a nail.
This genus is giving me a Mega headache. But I am rootless about the species and type of teeth. I want to choose from three. Which one has an incisor that is 5 cm wide? I can make a guess… I thought of giving one presidents over another. But have decided to pick the tried and true cereal brand because of it’s size.
Hmm, I have to admit that this clue is too cryptic for me. Although it may just be that I don’t know enough cereal brands!
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