I found an ancient ear fossil on the beach and prepped it, also mailbag

I was out looking for fossils at one of my local beaches when my eye caught a rock that looked different to the others. It had an "S" shape on it which I remembered seeing in diagrams of whale ear bones so I suspected there was a whale ear bone inside the rock which could be very important as whale ear bones are diagnostic and can tell you what species of whale or dolphin it is. It can even be used to name a completely new species!

An air scribe is used to remove any rock that is not close to the bone. An air scribe is like a mini jack hammer which flakes the rock away rather than sanding it away like some other tools.

After removing some of the rock, the exposed bone is covered in B72 to protect it and then placed in vinegar (acetic acid) to dissolve away the rock which is mainly calcium carbonate. After a few hours in the acid, it is placed in fresh water for twice the amount of time it was in the acid with the water being changed every hour or so.

More rock is removed with the air scribe and then another bath in the acid.

At the end of the video, before and after footage is shown. The before footage is a 3D rendering which can be downloaded and 3D printed from mamlambofossils.com or Sketchfab (https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fossil-whale-ear-bone-in-matrix-4ff6bc3b89144a4d9980d8ddf023e5b5)

The fossil turned out to be a periotic ear bone from a whale. It is one of the main earbones that make up a whale ear, the other being the tympanic bulla.

The process took 2 months to complete as numerous acid baths were required.

It has been donated to Te Papa, a museum in New Zealand, for further study.

I also open a great mailbag from Stuart! I'm blown away by how cool the fossil crab replica is!

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Video thumbnail attribution:
Beluga whale in an aquarium. Original image from Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress collection. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

#shark #fossil #newzealand