Specifications
Descripción
Locality: Florida, U.S.A.
Era: Cenozoic
Geological Age: Approximately 2.6 million to 11,700 Years Ago.
Manatees are slow-swimming, plant-eating marine mammals whose closest living relative is the elephant. They are one of the only animals that keep replacing their teeth throughout their lives. As the front molars wear down they fall out, and the molars behind them move forward, or march, into place.
In Florida, fossil manatee teeth come from Pleistocene deposits. During the ice ages, sea level fell by up to about 120 m, and the Florida peninsula was about twice as large as today, with its Gulf shoreline far to the west. In the warm interglacial periods the sea rose again, at times above today's level.
Each tooth is small and solid, with a crown crossed by ridges and grooves. Sizes and weights are listed below.
These fossils date back to the Pleistocene epoch, which spanned from approximately 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. During the Pleistocene ice ages, sea level fell by up to about 120 m, and Florida's Gulf coast lay well over 100 km west of today's shoreline. Manatees lived in its warm coastal waters, estuaries and rivers, while seas rose during the warm interglacial periods. Manatee teeth fossils are distinctive in shape and structure, featuring flattened, rounded crowns with ridges and grooves adapted for grinding vegetation.
Small Approximate Size of 1 piece: 12mm x 7mm x 5mm
Approximate Weight of 1 piece: .75g
Medium Approximate Size of 1 piece: 15mm x 10mm x 6mm
Approximate Weight of 1 piece: 1.5g
Large Approximate Size of 1 piece: 15mm x 18mm x 7.5mm
Approximate Weight of 1 piece: 3g
Quantity: 1pc
We do our best to buy quality products- although not every rock is the same. If you choose to purchase the "staff pick option", we will select the best of the batch for you. Otherwise, it will be at random from the larger batch we have in stock.