20.6.10

fossil of the weekend #73

a really nice mastodon tooth at the royal british columbia museum (my visit to the museum coming up soon during my OH-lympic coverage).
[thanks to Bruce Mohn for correcting me. i called this a mammoth. as bruce pointed out the large cusps are a mastodon trait not a mammoth... i knew there was a difference, but couldn't remember it off the top of my head, and frankly mammals just aren't my thing. give me a saurian anyday!]

1 comment:

Bruce Mohn said...

This is a mastodon tooth, not mammoth as illustrated by the large cusps. Mammoths have flat tooth surfaces, very similar to those of modern elephants, more like files than anything else.