Description
This is a section of a Eocene Titanothere Vertebra Fossil. It is from a Titanothere, formerly called Brontotherium but now renamed Megacerops. They are distantly related to Rhinoceros. This is one of the processes of a vertebra.
This one was found at a leased dig site in an ancient riverbed. It was found near Kadoka, Jackson County, South Dakota in 2004. The bone is stabilized and is 6 inches long by 7 inches wide by 4 1/4 tall. It has pieces missing, has been repaired but NO RECONSTRUCTION has been done.
The Titanothere Vertebra Fossil is vertebra that comes from a bonebed and collected legally on a ranch within the Badlands of South Dakota. Because the badlands have little vegetation, when it rains, the rains wash away sediment. So when prospecting, bone fragments as well as turtle shell, fish scales and other fossils are exposed. This fragment is a piece of Genuine Titanothere. A Titanothere is any member of an extinct group of large hoofed mammals of North America during the early Eocene Epoch. The animal was classified as a Brontotherium but has recently been renamed Megacerops.
There are many bone fragments found while prospecting. When the bone is exposed to the elements it begins to decay. Because this decay is rapid, a bone may fall into dust in just a few years.
This Titanothere Vertebra Partial is a centrum and the support for the processes that was recently discovered in 2004 but just now prepared and stabilized. It is part of the spinous process and a small piece of the right transverse process. It was discovered at a verified Titanothere site that was a large bone bed and many of the surrounding bones were to badly damaged and weathered to attempt recovery. Complete bones are hard to find and when found are extremely expensive. They are hard to find because of scavenger dinosaurs and bone decay. But also the bones are very brittle. If not excavated correctly they will literally fall apart. But this one has been stabilized.
The species existed from approx. 50 million years ago to about 30 million years ago. One Identifiable jaw was found about 30 yards away leading to the hypothesis these bones belonged to that animal.
