55

We were thinking beaver but don't they have orange teeth? Anyway looking forward to hearing your expertise.

top 36 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 83 points 1 week ago

I need to do chores today, so I instead used my procrastination energy here! It's the molar of a herbivore. Here's what I have:

Definitely not beaver. Beaver incisors are orange and shaped very differently and it's far too large to be a beaver premolar or molar. Wrong morphology anyhow - beaver pre/molars are plicated and this is not. It's also not from a muskrat based on all the same criteria but the plication.

It's definitely from a bovid, not from a caprid or equid. Equids tend to have these bizarre columnar molars, and caprid molars are too small and the wrong shape. Since you're in Germany, that leaves us with cows and European bison.

It's the first or second molar from one of those based on the two cusps; if it had three cusps, it'd be the third molar. What clinches it is the asymmetrical gap in the roots (called a furcation area). Cows have a gap right in the middle of their first and second molars, whereas bison have an off-center gap in their first molar.

Congratulations, you have a bison M1!

Cow X-ray

Bison X-ray

[-] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 15 points 1 week ago

This is golden age Reddit level content right here

[-] And009@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 1 week ago

I miss these

[-] Typotyper@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

That little part of me thinks you were procrastinating so hard you researched, studied and learnt all that just to put off doing the dishes

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 week ago

Close! I went to college for microbiology, but we got a year-long crash course on general biology, including macroorganisms, plus we had a lot of ag students that I dragged kicking and screaming through their courses as a tutor. I probably spent twenty minutes or so on it because I have a really hazy recall of dentition details.

[-] flango@lemmy.eco.br 12 points 1 week ago

Wow astonishing research, thank you!

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Thanks! It was 10 times better than normal because I really didn't want to fight spiders while cleaning out the shed.

[-] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 10 points 1 week ago

Wow thanks so much! That's more exciting than I anticipated actually 😄

[-] lb_o@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

I haven't seen a post like that in four years! Thank you!

[-] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

What's a bison molar doing in a creek in Germany?

[-] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[-] paranoid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Risky click of the day!

[-] essell@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Looks to me like it's from a creek in Germany.

[-] udon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I'd even go so far to speculate it's from an animal.

[-] danhab99@programming.dev -2 points 1 week ago

It might not be an animal, it might be an African Strangler

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Can you take a photo next to a euro coin, for scale?

[-] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

I don't have it here unfortunately but it's about 5cm/2" long

[-] Greg@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

I don’t have it here

I assume you cashed it in with the tooth fairy?

[-] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 1 points 1 week ago

I feel like that's ten euros at least.

[-] medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago
[-] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago
[-] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 3 points 1 week ago

I found a very similar one, also in Germany, many years ago. I figured mine was a cow tooth, although I'm not sure how old it was. Most people no longer kept cows in that town at the time that I lived there.

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Germany, you say? It’s local name will be something with WAY too many letters.

Edit: Relax, folks. ALL languages are kinda messy in their own way. There’s a difference between a good-natured joke and heartfelt criticism. I’m not criticizing anything. Plus, I’m speaking English, which is an absolute dumpster fire.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

English is perfectly reasonable... if you think taking root words from 3 or 4 languages as a core and fleshing it out with words from another half dozen languages and stitching it together with grammar that kind of matches a couple of those languages is reasonable.

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 3 points 1 week ago

Non-native speakers who become seamlessly fluent genuinely impress me.

[-] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago

English is almost entirely just what feels right. No English speaker has perfect English. I'm sure that Germans have the same with all the 16 uses of "the". English just has more.

[-] prex@aussie.zone 2 points 1 week ago

Is english the C++ of languages?

[-] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago

Der gemeine Waldundwiesenlangzahn

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago

Nicht aber von Ziege. OP weiß, wie Ziegenfalle aussehen.

[-] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 0 points 1 week ago

Einhörnchen? (That's squirrel, def not one of those)

[-] Yareckt@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 week ago

Oachkatzaischwoafboandl?

[-] ptychodus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

As others have guessed, this is a bovid tooth, Bos taurus (cow).

[-] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago
[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 week ago

A bison in Germany?

possibly a bovine, maybe buffalo but not a bison unless its in the US

[-] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 week ago
[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 week ago

well I stand corrected. I'm glad there's wild European Bison once again!

this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
55 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

33141 readers
720 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS