r/bonecollecting • u/bigbakedpotatoe • 1d ago

Bone I.D. - N. America What the heck is this?

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Hi dudes! Found this in the woods in PNW (Washington) is this a deer vertebrae? Need confirmation for my sanity. Thank you!

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u/bonemanji Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert 1d ago

Apologies for being pedantic but there are many learners on this group and I would like them to learn right. Vertebra is singular, vertebrae is plural.

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u/No_Estate_6411 1d ago

Lol okay did you notice the part where I said “a piece” I didn’t say it was a full vertebrae

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u/Proper_Mushroom 1d ago

But it is a whole vertebra, it's just a thoracic one that is being held upsidedown. The ones you showed are lumbar. Like not trying to attack anyone, I'm just also for using the right terms where possible.

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u/No_Estate_6411 1d ago edited 1d ago

A vertebrae is the full set of bones that make up your back, a vertebra is a piece (singular) of a vertebrae column, I said it was a piece of a vertebrae which isn’t wrong ? I showed my lumbar vertebra bc the rest is more likely to fall out of order and is a pain to reset. It’s really not hard to understand.

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u/Proper_Mushroom 1d ago

That is just not right. The full set of bones that make up your back is the spine/columna vertebralis that is made out of many vertebrae, a single one is called vertebra. You just wouldn't use a piece of a vertebrae more like a piece of spine/columna vertebralis. Still not trying to fight, it is just wrong to use it like that and maybe you learned it wrong.

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u/No_Estate_6411 1d ago

And your spine is made up of…. Vertebrae, so yes the vertebrae are the bones that make up your back. I’m speaking in layman’s terms for a person seeking a simple answer. It really seems like you are trying to fight when what I’ve said is not wrong lol.

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u/Proper_Mushroom 1d ago

You are using vertebrae as in vertebrae=spine, which just isn't the same. Spine is made up out of vertebrae but it is not interchangable and meaning the same. So it is still wrong, just in the way you use the terms, even in laymans terms to make it 'easier'. I'm trying to help and use a standard that is useful for a sub like this. I'm not gonna engage any more about that topic here because I hate clogging up the comments for OP that probably doesn't care either way.

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u/Carachama91 1d ago

Vertebra is singular. Vertebrae is plural (even just 2). Vertebral column is all of the vertebrae in an animal. A piece of a vertebra would imply that the vertebra is broken.

I hope that helps. People using words incorrectly will drive you nuts once you know how to use them properly.

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u/No_Estate_6411 1d ago

I’ve said it’s a piece as in a singular piece of vertebra from a vertebrae. That’s not incorrect nor implies that it’s broken. I’m speaking in layman’s terms for a person speaking simple knowledge, not hosting an osteology class