Can anybody identify this?

[Lianachan]

Any ideas what this is?

Looks more like an antler kind of thing than a tooth to me.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10.../Misc/ness.bmp

[teddyv]

Your link doesn't work.

Anyway, the little hook at the end makes it look like a talon or claw. Maybe a big cat?

edit: You fixed it!

[Amadeus]

My guess would be young antlers.
the spongey bit at the end where it would attach to the head makes me think this

[Moose]

My guess would be young antlers.
the spongey bit at the end where it would attach to the head makes me think this

Yeah. I'm about 90% certain it's an immature antler of some kind. I suppose it could be a claw of some kind, but it's a bit long and slender (IMO) for the sort of abuse one of the big kitties would put it through.

[tlbs101]

Pronghorn Antelope, perhaps? (and a young one, at that.)

[Lianachan]

edit: You fixed it!

Eventually! I gave up trying to get a thumbnail, or the full pic (since it's small) into my post and settled just for a link.

I agree that it looks like a young antler, and concede that it could possibly be the talon of a quite large bird of prey (although would they not tend to be more curved?).

The stuff out of the "root", and the shape of the very tip convince me it's not a tooth.

Some background - the picture is from www.lochnesstooth.com, which contains a story with so many flaws and problems I don't know where to start.

[beskeptical]

From the link:

After a few hours we came across the remains of a dead deer. The animal had literally been ripped in half - hind quarters gone, its spine was broken and severed. There were huge bloody gashes, teeth marks and a bizarre bony protrusion sticking out of an exposed rib. Using a screwdriver, we cracked open the ribcage and pried it loose. It was a tooth - about 4 inches long, barbed and very sharp!

Definitely more evidence it is an antler and these two just haven't seen enough antlers and/or teeth in their short lives. :wink:

See examples midway down this page, especially this image.

[Paul Mitchell]

Our Scottish local told us there are no bears in the area.

ROFL :P

Right on the ball there then! The British Brown bear probably became extinct around 900AD.

As for the "Water Bailiff" baloney #-o...

[Lianachan]

Our Scottish local told us there are no bears in the area.

ROFL :P

Right on the ball there then! The British Brown bear probably became extinct around 900AD.

As for the "Water Bailiff" baloney #-o...

Indeed - although you do actually get water bailiffs in the area, I think they're more to police fishing in nearby rivers than to cruise the Loch looking for American kids to persecute. I like the references to the "Highland Authorities" too. Good stuff.

[beskeptical]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Water bailiff \Wa"ter bail"iff\
An officer of the customs, whose duty it is to search vessels. [Eng.]

I just had to find out what you guys were talking about.

[akula]

Pronghorn Antelope, perhaps? (and a young one, at that.)

Without more information, I agree. I've seen these in Montana on previous projects, and also it seems that they are frequently found in the UK as well.

[Lianachan]

Pronghorn Antelope, perhaps? (and a young one, at that.)

Without more information, I agree. I've seen these in Montana on previous projects, and also it seems that they are frequently found in the UK as well.

There aren't any in the UK, outside of a couple of zoo's. I think these guys "tooth" was taken to Loch Ness for the purpose of perpetuating this hoax - or the whole thing was done in the USA. I've not had a close look at the photographs. At first glance while there was nothing that proves they were not taken at Loch Ness, I couldn't see anything that proves they definately were either. A closer look is warranted, I think.

I couldn't find any ties between their expert (who has a fantastically woo-woo website about alien art!) and Werner Herzog, who's been behind a few similar pieces of "news" over the last couple of years to try to raise interest in his "Blair Witch" style documentary-gone-wrong about the Loch.

[beskeptical]

Web search reveals three kinds of Scotland deer, red, roe, and fallow. Red and fallow deer antlers don't fit the bill but roe deer antlers do. I can't say that convinces me these guys pulled the antler out of a carcass but who knows. Either these guys are naive or perpetrating a fraud. Could be either one.

http://www.deer-uk.com/roe_deer.htm

Roe deer are unusual amongst British deer in that they cast and re-grow their antlers in the winter when good food is scarce; other species develop their antlers over spring and summer. Buck kids develop a small knob (or button) on top of their pedicle during the first nine months of life. This knob is shed in early spring and the first antler begins to grow. Occasionally if habitat conditions have been favourable, a strong young buck may develop a classic six-point head in its first year. However, a four-point head or even just two spikes would be the norm.

Site has a good picture of antlers similar to the one in the story.

http://www.deer-uk.com/red_deer.htm
red deer fight but antlers big racks

http://www.deer-uk.com/fallow_deer.htm
fallow deer antlers look like moose antlers

Gee this post gave me a deja vu feeling just now. Hmmmm.

[Paul Mitchell]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Water bailiff \Wa"ter bail"iff\
An officer of the customs, whose duty it is to search vessels. [Eng.]

I just had to find out what you guys were talking about.

What we're saying is that while there may indeed be local officials with the title of "Water Bailiff", their duties are things like checking fishing licences and boat registrations. Maybe enforcing the speed limit on the loch.

I was going to say that their duties do not at any point include confiscating tourists' films or cameras, but it appears that they could http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/...nt/powb-03.asp. However I strongly doubt that this would happen since they have no jurisdiction over taking pictures.

[Lianachan]

Web search reveals three kinds of Scotland deer, red, roe, and fallow. Red and fallow deer antlers don't fit the bill but roe deer antlers do. I can't say that convinces me these guys pulled the antler out of a carcass but who knows. Either these guys are naive or perpetrating a fraud. Could be either one.

Yup, three kinds of deer right enough. My money is on the second of your options there.

I know Loch Ness extremely well. I've spent many nights camping by its shores, and many days on its surface on boats. A company I used to work for owns boats on the Loch, and I spent time on those too. I'm not a monster hunter, I'm a local.

Looking at their first photograph, going by the position of the shadows they are looking in a generally southern direction (we're in the northern hemisphere, and the shadows come towards the camera). Since the loch bank is on the left, they must therefore be on the east side of the loch. The only places where there would be a bit of land sticking out into the loch like that, along that bank, are at Foyers Bay or in Loch Dochfour (in the bit of water that's to the north and is not really part of Loch Ness). Neither of them look like that, and neither of them would have a view with large mountains in the background - just miles and miles of loch stretching into the distance. In fact, no view down the loch would have mountains like that in the background - as you're looking down the biggest glen (valley) in the UK.

Given that :
the people who "found" this "tooth" are American
their "tooth" is most likely to be an antler from a species of deer that's only found in the western USA, northern Mexico and south western Canada
their photograph of the Loch almost certainly isn't Loch Ness
their story contains many problems - notably "no bears in the area", the stuff with the water bailiffs and references to "the Highland Authorities"
their expert is a screaming woo-woo of the worst kind (http://www.alienufoart.com/)

I suggest that not only is the whole thing a poor hoax, but also that they never actually were at Loch Ness in the first place. I think the whole thing was done in the north western USA or in south western Canada.

[lti]

i imediately thought that was a part of a crabs pincer, but the end that attaches to the rest of the creature doesnt seem to fit this theory.

[01101001]

"As seen on Coast to Coast AM"

It's referenced in a feature article on the Coast to Coast website today, wilth a link to lochnesstooth.com (Help them get the "tooth" back from Scottish authorities. Earn a $5000 reward.)

Tooth, my foot.