u/lednarb13

🐻 For #FossilFriday 🐂🦥🐴🐪🐟 a new #LostBones article is out on Substack! This one is a deep-deep dive into brown bear (Ursus arctos) and giant short-faced bears (Arctodus simus) in the Midwest and Surrounding areas.

Please share to get out the word!

See it thru the link in my bio or here: https://marcusbrandel.substack.com/p/lost-bones-6-bears-repeating

Lostbone article now on Substack

Ursus arctos patella with other mixed species skull and long-bone fragments. Crowing County Historical Society

Ursus arctos patella

https://preview.redd.it/iijgdncbgg8h1.png?width=873&format=png&auto=webp&s=8986872f48da3dc5e1aec4fa03e337e911711c6c

For #FossilFriday, the final tooth—12 of 12—is SMM P2024.5.1, a lower molar found at Mississippi Gateway Regional Park (Hennepin County) in August 2023.

Some updates on the Ice Age Horse project (see Lost Bones #4 and its updates — Part 1 and Part 2):

The physical 3D prints of all twelve molars are now in the final stages of painting, with detailed coloration matched closely to the originals. Alongside the prints, high‑resolution photogrammetry was completed for each specimen. These scans will generate detailed 3D models (STL or OBJ) suitable for interactive viewing, research use, and future 3D printing. The Science Museum of Minnesota already shares many of its digital models on Sketchfab, where many of these models already appear.

And as many of you already know, once these steps are complete, the original specimens will be carefully packed and shipped to UC Irvine’s W. M. Keck Carbon Cycle AMS Facility (KCCAMS) for radiocarbon dating.

Follow along as this Ice Age project approaches its next major milestone through the link in my profile.

Reproduction Painting in Progesss

Occlusal View

Lost Bones Science Museum of Minnesota specimen SMM P2025.8.6 (originally MNH 779) comes from Nicollet County near St. Peter, Minnesota’s almost‑capital and the site of the historic Traverse des Sioux river crossing.

This upper molar is #11 of 12 in the state’s Ice Age horse project. All twelve will be heading to UC Irvine’s W. M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Facility (KCCAMS) for radiocarbon dating this summer.

Follow the full 12‑tooth journey in Lost Bones #4 and the Lost Bones #4 Updates — link in comments.

Lateral view upper horse molar, Nicollet County

Occlusal view upper horse molar, Nicollet County

🐘 #MuseumSpotlight #FossilFriday 🐟🐘🦥🐴🐪

Come on—how often do you get to see a life‑sized mastodon with its juvenile in a full reconstruction?  

On a recent road trip, I stumbled across this fantastic display in the Entering the Ice Age exhibition at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, Ohio. If you have nature ‑ or paleo‑curious kids—or if you simply love mastodons—I highly recommend a visit.

They also feature an excellent proboscidean molar comparison display, plus giant ground sloth and short‑faced bear skeletal replicas, along with strong mammalogy and Egyptology exhibits.

https://boonshoft.org/

#OhioMuseums #Pleistocene #Mastodon #Palaeontology #Fossils #CitizenScience #Ohio

Full size mastodon with juvenile reconstuction.

Part of the musuem's mamal exhibit.

Proboscidean molar morphology display.

🦥🐴🐪🐟🍃**#mnmuseums #fossilfriday**

The full bison skeletal build is officially taking shape at the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History. After years in storage, the Cherney site’s bones are finally moving from crates into museum care. Vertebra by vertebra, limb by limb, a Pleistocene giant from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, is rising again in Blue Earth.

Huge thanks to Jim Pollard and Walter Varcoe for the interview and for letting me see part of the mounting process in action. 🦏 And yes — if you feel a Lost Bones article coming out of this, you’re correct. It’s going to be a banger.

Smmnh http://smmnh.com

Walter Varcoehttp://equineskeletons.com

Walter Varcoe in action.

The first stretch of vertebrae.