We live in Western Montana at the edge of a national forest, and we see lots of wildlife while out on walks. A few days ago while hiking my dog brought back a bone he had found somewhere.
I took a mammology class in college many years ago, so I thought it looked a lot like a tibia bone, although it didn’t look much like other deer bones I have seen in the past.
We see White Tailed Deer almost every day here, so that’s what I assumed it was from. I just want to make sure it’s not a human bone, which I don’t think it is.
So is this a deer bone or from some other animal? I searched the intertubes and couldn’t find a perfect match.
BTW I am letting my dog chew on it since it’s extremely hard and looks weathered (as opposed to fresh).
The bone is about 7 inches long and about 5/8th of an inch wide. Here are a few pics:
I think it looks an awful lot like it, especially the slit like hole in the side just above the end. On the opposite end, the pristine one in my link has the small cylindrical features on the end while yours does not but many small animals chew on drop tines and bones as a source of minerals (calcium) and as a means of sharpening their teeth. That could be why yours is missing that element.
Funny you should mention that, a few weeks earlier my dog discovered an adult White Tail deer skull complete with a rack of antlers, but no lower jaw. Since he is a 5 month old Parson Russell Terrier he couldn’t move it due to it’s size, but he kept barking at it until I walked over a saw what he had found.
This skull was miles away from where he found the leg bone, so I doubt they are related. A hunter likely killed the adult male and just left the skull there for some reason…
More likely a metatarsal(or maybe a metacarpal) than a tibia, which is much more irregular. These are the lowermost bones in the leg, corresponding to our hand and foot bones.
