I can’t believe it’s Friday again – it’s all a bit hectic at the moment, so apologies for the late posting of this week’s mystery object.
Here’s a rather odd object from the Horniman’s collections – any idea what it might be?
As usual, post your answers below and if you have any questions I’ll do my best to answer them!
Zygoma 
Is it a fossilised shite of some sort?
Not a coprolite
Is it a fossil shell then? It is a fossil, right?
It is a fossil. Shell is a tricky one – what do you mean by shell, it’s a somewhat ambiguous term?
Is it an ovulite?
A pregnancy detecting kit?
No, it’s not a fossilised egg either.
OK then PaoloV, is it a fossilised osteoderm?
Not an osteoderm – indeed not bone of any kind.
Is it cartilage?
Not cartilage either.
Is it a fossilised tree stump/branch?
*part of
Nope – not a bit of any plant
You said on Twitter “say what you see” and it looks to me like a frog that’s had its head and legs chopped off. I’m pretty sure it isn’t that though.
It’s not, but you’re doing well with identifying that it’s a bit of something rather than a complete organism.
So you didn’t say it wasn’t a shell of some sort, just not bone.
Is it a fossil crab?
…I know, totally random, it’s just what popped into my head. When people ask me for a random word, 9 times out of 10 I say crab.
I can’t think what that says about me :-S
Hmm, if I were of an astrological persuasion I’d ask if you were a cancerian…
It’s not a fossil crab, but you’re damn close…
If I were of an astrological persuasion, I’d have to concede that I am in fact a cancerian (July 13th) 😉
I’m good.
Lobster?
w00t! Good work!
One kudos point to Fia, but five up for grabs if you can give me a genus and another five for the species!
A fossil arthropod (of some sort).
It most certainly is a fossil arthropod of some sort, but the question has to be “which sort?”
Canadaspis Perfecta?
(I googled this btw, cannot claim to previous knowledge of Cambrian euarthropods although I know a lot now)
Stealth teaching’ll getcha every time! But no, it’s a bit more recent than that…
An elephant lung
It’s a bit small…
Is it something my mummy cooked ? It looks like it.
Lol! Not unless your mum cooks rocks!
Ha, another mother whose cooking is like your mother’s?
Your cooking very rarely results in charred looking rocks!
It’s an isopod.
Nope.