Bison Jaw
Age: Pleistocene
Locality: Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Arkansas River (near Sands Springs, OK)

Click on pictures to Magnify

image 1

image 2

image 3

image 4

image 5

image 6

Arrow pointing to stylid
Bison Jaw

Viewer Comments

Your bison was a young adult. The jaw illustrates how the adult teeth push
and crowd out the deciduous teeth, well-illustrated in image #5. Osteoclasts
selectively break down the roots of the deciduous tooth as the adult tooth
crowds into the space. The deciduous premolar is preserved as a cap on
the emerging adult tooth; it is fortuitous that the cap was preserved in place.

I also like that this jaw illustrates by wear which adult cheek teeth emerge
first. The last to emerge is still becoming exposed (very little wear) at the
rear. Again, image #5 shows this well. This bison was still growing.

In image #6, on the 3rd tooth from the right (which is adult molar 1), you
can see the stylid on the side of the tooth. It appears as a little "donut" of
enamel at mid-tooth. This stylid is a feature that is used to distinguish loose
bison teeth from cow teeth.  [ image #6 with arrow pointing to stylid ]

This bison jaw is an excellent specimen for teaching. It doesn't matter
much whether it is a hundred years old or hundreds of thousands of
years old -- these bison species are very conservative in their morphology.
The main difference between species is size.

I have collected many vertebrate jaws over the years (among vertebrate
fossils collectors, a "jaw" may be as minimal as a single tooth in a bit of
bone). The number of jaws I have found with a deciduous tooth cap in
place can be counted on the fingers of one hand. None of them was
nearly as complete as your jaw.

Harry Pristis

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