Tooth identification.

[EVB]

I found this tooth in the Santa Cruz, CA mountains about 20 years ago and never found out exactly what it may be. I know it is some kind of mammal but is it a whale, tiger, claw of some sort? I was sifting for shark teeth when it popped up in my sifter. I was pretty happy with it at the time.

 

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[Age_old]

That would be a sperm whale tooth. Only the whale teeth have that big cavity on the large end. It is very worn though, so I could be wrong. It might also be a worn down horse tooth. I am speaking from Florida experience here, but if you found it with Miocene fossils, it's a whale tooth. Funny, we just had another member (Gatorboy) find a whale tooth a few days ago. Nice find!

 

[EVB]

The time period sounds correct. I think the range in this place is 15-2 million years. I have a pile of interesting finds from this place, this one really stands out though. Thank you!

 

[nomad1]

I have collected sharks teeth along the Chesapeak bay at Calvert cliffs and often found dolphin teeth that look very similar.

 

[EVB]

Lots of Dolphin teeth can be picked from the surface of this spot. They are tiny though.

 

[gord]

'Course, the real challenge is collecting the teeth from live sharks.

 

[GatorBoy]

Nice find!
The dolphin teeth are solid also.

 

[GatorBoy]

Here is one of each for comparison