Here's just a small sample of the fossils we have available.  These came from Aurora, North Carolina 

Ancestor to the manatee, one of the first fossil animals in Florida, dating back to the Pleistocene era, 10,000 to 1.1 million years ago.  Dugongs had tails like dolphins, modern manatee are rounded.  These fossils were found in the Peace and Santa Fe Rivers in Florida.

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$8.00 ea.

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9" long x 1-3/8" wide x 1-1/4" deep, 11.3 ounces

$25  SOLD

23 to 5 million years old (Miocene age), Florida

(Dermal scutes are round or rectangular plates with a vertical ridge and are found under the skin of the gator. They form parallel ridges along the animal's back).  See also Gators page 5 for modern scutes!

  

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Gator scute is 1-1/8 x 1-1/8" 

(Alligator Mississippiensis)

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3" across x 2-3/4" tall

NO, this is NOT an Oreo-eating dinosaur!  

It is a short-legged, blunt-headed herbivore with 5 toes on each front foot, and 4 on each rear foot.   This mammal lived 30-35 million years ago in the Late Oligocene era.  From the White River Formation, Pennington County, South Dakota.

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Three pieces

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(disregard the placard behind it in the1st photo)

Tibia end, Pleistocene epoch, 100,000 to 1.8 million years old.  Peace River, Florida.  Measures 9-1/4" long x 3" at widest point.

(Antiquis occidentalis)

Average 2" long, from the Brule Formation, Chadron, Nebraska.  Pleistocene age, 100,000 to 1.8 million years old

#F-304-B  $6

#F-304-A  Leg bone, 7" long x 2-3/8" widest x 1-1/2" deep, 1 pound 

#F-304-B  Leg bone, 10" long x 1-7/8" widest x 1-1/4" deep, 9.5 ounces

#F-304-C  Vertebrae  

16" long x 5" wide x 3" high  

#F-304-D  Leg bone, 4-3/4" long x 2-3/8" widest x 1" deep

#F-304-E  Leg bone, 9-1/2" long x 3" widest x 2-3/4" deepest, 1 pound, 2 ounces

#F-304-F  Leg socket, 3-3/4" long x 2-3/4" wide x 2-3/8" deep, 7 ounces

#F-304-G  Leg socket, 2-1/4" long x 2-3/4" wide x 2-1/2" deep, 4 ounces

#F-304-I  Leg bone, 5-3/4" long x 3" wide x 2-1/2" deep, 1 pound 2 ounces

#F-304-J  Leg bone, 6" long x 3-3/4" wide x 2-1/2" deep, 1 pounds 3 ounces

Equus, Pleistocene, 2 million years old, Florida

Similar to modern horse, uppers are square on the chewing surface, rectangular on the lower teeth.

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#F-306-1  Horse leg bones (2 pieces not associated), 1st is 8" long x 1-3/4" wide x 1" deep and 2nd is 5-1/2" long x 1-5/8" wide x 1-5/8" deep, 1 pound 4 ounces

#F-306-2  Bone socket, 2-1/4" long x 2-3/8" wide x 1-3/4" deep

#F-306-3  Bone socket, 2-1/2" long x 2-3/8" wide x 1-1/4" deep

#F-306-4  Bone socket, 2-3/4" long x 2-3/4" wide x 2-1/8" deep

#F-306-5  Horse leg bone, 4-1/4" long x 1-5/8" wide x 1-1/4" deep

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Rivers of Florida, Pleistocene Age

$6 each unless otherwise marked

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1-7/8 x 1-3/4" x 1/2" thick

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2-3/4 x -1-1/2 x 3/8" thick

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2-1/4 x 1-1/4 x 5/16" thick

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2 x 1-3/4 x 1/2" thick

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#F-308-S    set of 2

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Living fossil packet!  This material contains eggs from the  tadpole Shrimp-Apus longicaudatus Le Conte (Triops) which dates back to Triassic time (190 million years ago).  It has a shield-like carapace covering most of the body which makes it resemble a trilobite.  The eggs can survive long periods without water and through temperature changes and still hatch as soon as rain produces a lake.  Found only in the western U.S.  Add water and watch them hatch.  Then let it dry and start all over again! 

(3 available)   

 "Sword-ray" FISH

The LARGEST bony fish that ever lived, it grew up to 18' long, distantly related to tarpon.  It had a voracious appetite, swallowed fish whole, some six feet or more in length.  There are fossils excavated showing a "fish within the fish" such as this fossil found in Kansas in 1982.  The fish it swallowed was 6 feet long!

See Fossils Page 11 for more photos of these awesome fish

(Cretaceous Period, from Gove County, Kansas Formation)

$18 each

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Scaldicetus species

Pliocene to Miocene Era (1.8 to 25 million years old), found in North & South Carolina

Wide strips of baleen (which is made from keratin, the same material your fingernails or horses hooves are made of) with fringes of hair hang down from the inside of the Baleen Whale's mouth like strips in a car wash.  Plankton catch on the hairs which are then licked off by the whale's tongue and swallowed. (See Alaska page 5 under BALEEN for etchings on baleen available for sale, by Alaskan Native Eskimo):

Alaska Page 6

From South Carolina rivers (St. John's, St. Mary's or Cooper River) near Charleston SC unless otherwise indicated

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2" long x 3-1/4" wide x 1-1/2" deep

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2" long x 4-3/4" wide x 4" deep

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4" diameter

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3-1/4" diameter

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2-3/4" diameter

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3" diameter

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3" diameter

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3-1/4" diameter

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3" diameter

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3" diameter

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2-1/4" diameter

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2-3/8" diameter

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2-3/4" long x3-1/4" wide x 1-1/4" deep

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6-3/4" long x 1-3/4" wide x 1-1/4" deep

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8-1/2" long x 2" wide x 1-1/2" deep

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4-1/4" long x 2-1/4" wide x 2" deep

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4-1/4" long x 2-3/4" wide x 1-1/8" deep

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6-1/4" long x 1-3/4" wide x 1-1/2" deepest

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4-1/2" long x 2-7/8" wide x 1-3/4" deep

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5-1/2" long x 1-3/4" wide x 1-1/8" deep

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4" long x 1-1/4" wide x 7/8" deep

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3-1/2" long x 2" wide x 1" deep

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6" long x 2-1/2" wide x 1-1/8" deep (posterior process, attaches to back part of the bulla ear bone)

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4-1/4" long x 2-1/4" wide x 1-1/8" deep (posterior process, attaches to back part of the bulla ear bone)

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4-3/4" long x 2" wide x 1" deep (posterior process, attaches to back part of the bulla ear bone)

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6" long x 2-1/2" wide x 1" deep (posterior process, attaches to back part of the bulla ear bone)

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3-1/2" long x 3" wide x 1-3/4" deep

#F-319-50  Scapula, 8-3/4" long x 5" widest x 2" deep

#F-319-60  Flipper bone, 5-5/8" long x 1-1/2" wide x 7/8" deep

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Back bone displayed by Powell at the Aurora Fossil club show (below) from the Calvert Formation along the Potomac River in VA; a 14 foot whale, it took 6 months to prepare/stabilize the backbone.

Primitive toothed whale dentition (Basilosauridae sp., South Carolina) at Aurora Fossil Museum (NC)

Whale vertebrae and other vertebrae on display at the museum (left) and whale disk pad shown above vertebrae (right)

Whale baleen layers as it is in the whale's mouth (left) and young baleen (right)

EDUCATIONAL life-sized BLUE WHALE 

NAMED WENDI

5/17/03.  We are at the Carolina Forest High School in Myrtle Beach SC where teacher Art Hawley (right) inspired the National Science Honor Society students to build a life-size blue whale (an endangered species, the numbers have gone from 200,000 in 1900 to about 10,000 now) to emphasize the size of the largest animal in the world (100 feet long!).  They laid out and taped together heavy plastic with packing tape, named it Wendi the Whale, and attached a rented blower at the tail end to inflate it!  Duct tape defines the designs for the mouth and eyes on the sides.  A great way to heighten awareness of our environment!  Our hats are off to you, Art, and your students!

Here three students from the Honor Society are ready to explain more details about Wendi the Whale, they're sitting inside the MOUTH of it!  Glenn is standing in the midsection inside the whale in the picture on the right - Glenn, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is not what you THINK!  Pretend you're Jonah, and fill in the blanks....

from East Coast, North & South Carolina, Miocene Age (5-24 million years old)

#F-323 Fossil Porpoise vertebrae is 3" long x 1-1/2" tall

#F-325  Fossil Porpoise vertebrae is 3-1/2" long x 3-1/4" tall.

$20.00

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1-5/8" diameter x 2" tall

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1-3/4" diameter x 2-1/4" tall

$7.00 each

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From the St. John's River, South Carolina, average 3-5 million years old.

#F-325-2  2" long  $18

#F-325-6  2-5/8" long  $35

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Comparison of modern and fossil shark vertebrae from the Aurora museum

Sawfish rostrum (single tooth  of saw) 

and part of sawfish blade ...

Look like shark skin?  It's actually fossilized bark of the 100-foot, scaly barked Lepidodendron tree (photo below), a plant fossil found in coal seams around Tennessee, dated to the Pennsylvanian period (300 million years old).

Below is David who found this specimen in West Virginia on the Ohio River near Harts.  We at first thought it was petrified coral. I think he's pleased with his find!  We were delighted he shared it with us.

  Below are photos of a similar specimen at the Fossil Club show in Whiteville NC

Eremotherium eomigrans, which has been found in 2.2 million year-old sediments in Florida, reached a length of 6 meters and had the bulk of a bull elephant, as tall as 17 feet.  Thick bones & joints, a powerful animal against predators.  Unlike today's sloths, they had 5 fingers, 4 of them claws, the biggest nearly a foot long!

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See Swords & Knives category for marlin bills made into daggers!

Miocene era

(Also known as Sheepshead) Here is a photo of a modern drum fish jaw, the cobblestone-like teeth used to crush oysters.  They also have teeth in their THROATS to continue crushing their food, called Pharyngeal Teeth.

And a photo of a drum fish, they average 30 pounds:

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From Pleistocene Age, found in the Steinhatchee River in Taylor County, Florida.  Vertebrae are from a Lampropeltine snake related to the King snake.

$8 (unless marked otherwise)

PRISTIS (SAWFISH) ROSTRAL TOOTH

Florida, U.S.A.

MIOCENE PERIOD: 23 million years ago

This is a fossil sawfish rostral tooth from the pristis species of sawfish.  Similar to the modern day sawfish, this creature had a long, hard shovel-shaped snout lined on both sides with long, spine-like teeth (these are the spine-like teeth offered for sale here).  Modern Sawfish are very lethargic animals, spending much of their day nestled in the muddy sea/river floor. At night, they scull slowly through the shallows, using their sensitive saw to find buried prey, which are then raked from the sediment to be consumed. It is useful to view the sawfishes' unique rostrum like a metal detector combined with a clam rake.  If small fishes, like mullet, swim past a hungry sawfish, this great ray will launch from the bottom, slashing its toothy weapon rapidly side to side. Gouged by the snout's awl-shaped teeth, injured fishes tumble to the sea floor, now immobilized and easy to catch. The toothy rostrum is also a weapon of defense. When threatened, sawfishes will smack this jagged sword against attackers, whether they be sharks or fishermen. Generally, though, sawfishes are very gentle animals, preferring to lie quietly, undisturbed.  

ALSO see the Sawfish blades we have for sale, item #W-6 series here on Weirdest page 1:

Terrestrial Mammal Fossils

Miocene Epoch; Bone Valley Formation, Polk County, Florida, USA

 (Glyptotherium floridanum)

Horse Creek, Florida, Pleistocene Era

Below is a photo of a GLYPTODONT at the State Museum in Columbia, SC, and a close up of the bony growths on the back like an alligator, called "scutes"

#F-348 sold

Florida River, Pleistocene Era

From the giant armadillo (Holmesina septentrionalis), much larger than today's armaillo.  The giants had 36 teeth, hundreds of bony scutes, both retangular and pentagonal in shape, four toes on front feet, three on the back.  Color is typically black from the carbon & manganese mineral content in the ground where it fossilized. A “Scute” is a section from the external bony or horny plate, enlarged scales covering the exterior of some animals such as turtle, armadillo or the extinct glyptodont. This polygonal-shaped plate is part of the flexible armor of a giant Ice Age armadillo or "pampathere". These creatures migrated to the southeastern United States from Central and South America.

$8.00 each

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Found in the Withlahoochee River (Florida), Pleistocene Era

An Odd-toed Ungulate, semi-aquatic, a hoofed mammal that represents herbivorous animals today.  They are bizarre creatures with heavy pig-like bodies, large odd-toed hoofed feet and long, flexible snouts like an elephant's but shorter.  A large tapir lower tooth resembles that of a small mastodon tooth.  Tapirs today remain unchanged since they first evolved millions of years ago.

$10 each

#F-350-D  SOLD

Photo of  large section of lower jaw tooth plate (on the floor of the mouth) of a duckbill ray.  The other side has smooth chevrons used as crushing plates.

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$12

Above photo, compliments of the Aurora Fossil Museum in North Carolina detailing stingray barb information.

Link to photos of a 198 pound stingray (look halfway down the page on this link):

http://www.carpecarpio.com:80/freshwaterstingray.html

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Thai Freshwater Stingray, Himantura chaophraya

From legally caught rays for their skin and meat, in Thailand

Note the two edges are like fish hooks, smooth on one side, hooked on the other, so it can slash from the side, or from being poked into something, making a jagged wound coming out:

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Photo of large stingray barb from Australia in our collection (not for sale)...

They are teeny tiny! 

Chevron MOUTH PLATES

Eocene Era, South Carolina coast

$4.00

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California and Alaska

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Average 1" long; estimated age:  20,000 years old

50,000 years old, Pleistocene, Suwanee River, Florida

There are three living genera and six species in the Camelidae family. They include the Old World 'true camels', the Dromedary (single-humped) and Bactrian (two-humped) camels, and the four New World llamines; llamas, vicunas, alpacas, and guanacos. Llamines, or llamas, are distinguished from camels in that they lack a hump, they have more of a domed cranium which houses a larger brain then camels, and they have a distinct enamel "buttress" on their molars.

#F-355-C  SOLD

#F-356-B  5-1/2" x 4", 1/4" thick

#F-356-C   6-1/4" x 4", 1/2" thick tapering to an edge

$18.00

#F-356-D  4-1/2 x 2-3/4", 3/4" thick

#F-356-E  7-1/4 x 3-3/4, 1/2" thick

#F-356-F  2-3/4 x 3-1/4, a thin 1/16" slice

Orthoceras, straight horn shell fossil, a type of cephalopod, Ordovician era, 450 million years old, from Morocco is 1-1/2" long.  Great addition for the new fossil collector!  

The Orthoceras marble fossils are excavated near the town of Erfoud in Southern Morocco, Africa.  Here's a local map of Erfoud:

http://www.multimap.com/wi/32279.htm 

and a picture map of Morocco showing Erfoud:

http://www.matchtours.com/history/map.htm

There are marble factories in Erfoud that polish the gray marble containing the ammonite and orthoceras fossils and cut them into tables, plates and many into display items.

Orthoceras shell fossil, fully 3D, 3-1/4" long x 3/4" diameter.  

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#F-393  Whale tooth (2-1/4", vertebrae disk pad (1-1/8" diameter); turtle shell 2-1/4 x 1-7/8"; coral (2") and mammal bone 4-1/4"; Lee Creek, NC

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13 small fossil shells in a Riker mount 6-1/4" x 5-1/4" x 3/4" high, glass top.  Comes with a free field guide to fossils & shells. 

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7 fossil shells in a Riker mount 6-1/4" x 5-1/4" x 3/4" high, glass top, comes with a free field guide to fossils & shells.

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6 fossilized branch coral including one matrix, great specimens.  In a Riker mount 6-1/4" x 5-1/4" x 3/4" high, glass top, comes with a free field guide to fossils & shells

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9 fossil shells & branch coral in a Riker mount 6-1/4" x 5-1/4" x 3/4" high, glass top, comes with a free field guide to fossils & shells. 

Check out our small DINOSAUR soapstone carvings:

Soapstone hand carved animals from Peru

AND TO FOSSILIZED POOP OF turtles, fish and dinosaurs, some is even CARVED into art! link here:

 Poop Fossils