# What kind of critter used to be around this bone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750 "2009-02-06T21:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/61 "2009-02-08T13:09:14Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > … my little point-and-shoot can only get so close and stay in focus, … …unless I use the Macro setting. :smack: Will take a useful set later today. Because if the atlas is the middle pic in **Lemur** ’s horse link, I don’t think it’s a match – the holes aren’t the same, since the horse seems to have two biggish holes on either “wing,” and my bone has one. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/62 "2009-02-08T19:23:45Z")
[Full set of pix](http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g161/twickster/mystery%20bone/?start=0) taken with the macro setting. Make sure you go to page 2 for three measured photos. ---
**Author:** ![achilles\_bogart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@achilles\_bogart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/achilles_bogart)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/63 "2009-02-08T20:16:13Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Because if the atlas is the middle pic in **Lemur** ’s horse link, I don’t think it’s a match – the holes aren’t the same, since the horse seems to have two biggish holes on either “wing,” and my bone has one. [http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/shn-12-lg.jpg](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/shn-12-lg.jpg) Take a look at this picture to see my point about those holes in the bone. 2 of those scapulae have holes in them but they are still human scapulae. Here’s 3 more horse atlases. Pic #1 & #3 don’t have those holes in the transverse process. Picture #2 has three holes, and our our original reference (Lemur’s) pic had 2. If you look compare #1 & #3 with the others, those two have more robust transverse processes, note the rough surfaces, that is for muscle attachment. Pic #2 and the reference pic are much more gracile and there is a bit of transparency in the bone surrounding those wholes. If you look at your pictures #1 & #2 (the bottom of the bone) you can see the indents on the bone by where the foramen on the transverse processes, the holes on the other bones are in the same location. [http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-606-lg.jpg](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-606-lg.jpg) [http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-607-lg.jpg](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-607-lg.jpg) [http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-605-lg.jpg](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-605-lg.jpg) It’s best to have more than one bone to compare against, as skeletons are part of a biological creature, and there is natural variations. Now that we’ve had 4 to compare, I am fairly certain it is a horse atlas. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/64 "2009-02-08T21:17:31Z")
These two > [@achilles\_bogart](#): > > [http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-606-lg.jpg](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-606-lg.jpg) > > [http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-605-lg.jpg](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/graphics/lq-605-lg.jpg) look a lot like it – I think you’re right. Mr. Ed, we hardly knew ye. Excellent work, sir or madam – many thanks to you, and to all who participated! ---
**Author:** ![achilles\_bogart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@achilles\_bogart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/achilles_bogart)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/65 "2009-02-08T21:41:34Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > These two > > look a lot like it – I think you’re right. > > Mr. Ed, we hardly knew ye. > > Excellent work, sir or madam – many thanks to you, and to all who participated! That’s sir to you. 😛 I loved doing it, my favorite aspect of forensics was the puzzle solving. The only reason I chose archaeology over forensics was the puzzle solving, plus having a reason to play in the dirt as an adult. 🙂 Well that, and no gruesome murder scenes, ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/66 "2009-02-09T15:00:32Z")
I still vote bear. **twicks** , any chance you can take it to a local vet or state wildlife commission office or somesuch? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/67 "2009-02-09T15:55:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > So what are these [killifish](http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=bluelyretail) (egg laying toothed carps) I hang out with? 🙂 Are you taking the word of a creature who admits to being a liar-fish? Is a man a fish? [http://www.treyanastasio.com/](http://www.treyanastasio.com/) Some are. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/68 "2009-02-09T19:58:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I still vote bear. > > **twicks** , any chance you can take it to a local vet or state wildlife commission office or somesuch? I live in Philly, where large-animal vets are few and far between. I’ll see what other resources might be available locally – though I gotta say, those two pictures that I specified look a whole hell of a lot like what I’ve got, given how banged up my bone is. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/69 "2009-02-09T21:18:17Z")
Actually, there’s a vet school at Penn, I bet someone over there knows something about anatomy. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/70 "2009-02-09T21:25:33Z")
_A few days later, in the UPenn student newspaper…_ “University police arrested a person who was wandering the campus, inviting faculty and students to ‘look at my bone’…” ---
**Author:** ![achilles\_bogart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@achilles\_bogart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/achilles_bogart)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/71 "2009-02-10T00:36:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I still vote bear. Here’s the full sized pic of the one that Colibri posted. > **[Flickr Login](https://identity.flickr.com/login?redir=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fbaggis%2F2720746359%2Fsizes%2Fo%2F)** Note how far out the transverse processes project on the bear atlas compared to twickster’s bone. The shape is different too. Also the articlucar facets (on the right hand side of the picture) don’t blend into transverse processes as they do on twickster’s. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/72 "2009-02-10T02:19:34Z")
I’d agree it looks very much like a horse atlas. It isn’t a bear atlas, which as **achilles** says has much longer transverse processes. I’ve asked an achaeologist friend of mine to take a look at it. He says he has a horse skeleton to compare it with. I’ll let you know if he sends me his conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750/73 "2009-02-10T15:54:16Z")
Thanks, **Colibri** – and tell your friend thanks also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-critter-used-to-be-around-this-bone/484750.md?page=3)