# What kind of animal could this bone have come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381 "2025-05-14T23:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/1 "2025-05-14T23:33:40Z")
I was doing some gardening work today and came across this bone: [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54520306218_0378014cc3_o_d.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54520306218_0378014cc3_o_d.jpg) I believe it’s a vertebra but I can’t imagine what animal of that size could have been in my yard. We aren’t adjacent to any wilderness areas and this is a gated community. I imagine that a large enough deer could jump the boundary fence, but even then I don’t know what a deer would be doing on our street in the first place. [More photos](https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCec9A) As you can see from the additional photos, the thickness of this roughly cylindrical bone is greater at one end than the other. ETA: I live in Eugene, Oregon. As I mentioned, we’re not adjacent to the wilderness, but there are some fairly wild areas not far away. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/2 "2025-05-14T23:38:22Z")
Just spitballing: could it be from a cow bone given to someone’s pet dog sometime in the past? Or maybe someone had a smoker and they roasted a big hunk 'o beef then had a backyard party? Both of those theories depend on there being enough of a past history on your property to make them plausible suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/3 "2025-05-14T23:39:50Z")
Looks exactly like the bone my dog has right now. Cow bone. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/4 "2025-05-14T23:41:11Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > : I live in Eugene, Oregon Hey! I just got my windsock order from Eugene Toy and Hobby. In the breeze, fishie I also think it’s a cow bone. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/5 "2025-05-14T23:46:56Z")
Another vote for cow femur. When I was a kid my dog used to eat them. Not the meat; the bone. Here’s some pix, including with them sectioned like the OP’s bone fragment. **[cow femur - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=cow+femur&hl=en&udm=2&oq=cow+femur&sclient=img)** ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/6 "2025-05-15T00:06:18Z")
Definitely a crosscut leg bone. Was full of marrow. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/7 "2025-05-15T00:21:42Z")
Tres yummy. Better roasted than raw, but I’m not a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/8 "2025-05-15T00:24:31Z")
Yep. Cow. Or soup bone. But soups ain’t animals. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/9 "2025-05-15T00:28:50Z")
When you live out in the countryside amongst farms and wildlife, bones stop being mysterious. Definitely a cow. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/10 "2025-05-15T00:29:04Z")
Just for visual reference, a cross-cut beef shank in pre-cooked state: [![](https://b-hpremiummeats.com/cdn/shop/files/Screenshot-20241107_100914_Canva.jpg?v=1731003005) ](https://b-hpremiummeats.com/cdn/shop/files/Screenshot-20241107_100914_Canva.jpg?v=1731003005) Or denuded and cut: [![](https://www.craftbeering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Raw-beef-marrow-bones.jpg) ](https://www.craftbeering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Raw-beef-marrow-bones.jpg) For a representative image. Looks like a very plausible match. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/11 "2025-05-15T01:47:03Z")
I’m going to cut across the grain here and suggest that this is actually evidence of sasquatch, and furthermore a band of murderous sasquatch cannibals who have cut up the remains and buried them around in a distributed pattern which, if reconstructed, would provide a map toward the entrance to their underworld city deep within the Hollow Earth where their multidimensional zero point energy technology allows them to call upon eldritch beings to convey them across time and space to extragalactic civilizations. Or, you know, a piece of cow femur buried by a neighborhood dog. Your pick on which theory appeals most to you. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/12 "2025-05-15T01:51:25Z")
Them Bigfoot rascals!! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/13 "2025-05-15T01:51:31Z")
NM… Coding problems. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/14 "2025-05-15T01:57:25Z")
That is definitely not vertebra which would look like [this](https://live.staticflickr.com/4553/38768300131_5ed29bc0f7_b.jpg) or [this](https://live.staticflickr.com/4577/23902842667_f925c58204_b.jpg), and would not have sharp finished ends. That is definitely a femur that has been sectioned from a shank. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/15 "2025-05-15T02:17:12Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Or, you know, a piece of cow femur buried by a neighborhood dog. Your pick on which theory appeals most to you. Makes sense. And a vertebra wouldn’t make much sense as something you’d give to a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/16 "2025-05-15T02:19:53Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Both of those theories depend on there being enough of a past history on your property to make them plausible suggestions. It was practically on the lot line, and they do have a dog next door. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/17 "2025-05-15T02:21:39Z")
Dog says: Needs more cow bone. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/18 "2025-05-15T02:25:33Z")
I’m telling ya, fellahs, you’d gonna want that cow bone. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/19 "2025-05-15T02:29:02Z")
Like other people here have said, it’s most likely either the femur or the humerus of a cow, after it was sliced by the butcher. Most likely, someone gave it to a dog and that’s how it ended up in your yard. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381/20 "2025-05-15T03:21:43Z")
Naturally(disease or disaster) occurring bones of animals would not be cut. They might broken or bitten, but not cut. All vertebrae I’ve seen in pictures and butchery are never smooth. Always have the lumps and bumps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-animal-could-this-bone-have-come-from/1018381.md?page=2)