SMALL EAR BONE OF WHALE - Red Crag, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex

EAR BONE OF WHALE
(TYMPANIC BONE)

About 10 million years old

Red Crag Coprolite Bed
Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex

Land mammals receive sound through the air and have ear bones that are attached to the skull. Underwater this arrangement makes identifying the direction of sounds difficult because of unwanted vibrations coming from the skull. Whales, that are descended from land mammals, have solved this problem by partially separating the bones from the skull.

The tympanic bone is unique to whales. Unlike most of the other bones in a whale’s skeleton it is very hard, dense and heavy, which is why it is most easily fossilised.

The bones from the Red Crag are derived from Miocene rocks long since eroded away. Some have a polish which is entirely natural.

This rare fossil is from an old collection. It was collected several decades ago. It is a small example but with a beautiful natural polish. There is slight damage at one end (see photo). 

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