4.4" Fossil Oreodont (Leptauchenia) Skull - Wyoming

Fossil Oreodont (Leptauchenia) Skull - Wyoming #176506

This is a nicely prepared Oreodont (Leptauchenia) skull from the Brule Formation of Niobrara County, Wyoming. Several vertebrae are still preserved in association with the skull and have been exposed from the rock at the back of the skull.

Portions of each zygomatic arch on each side of the skull, have restoration. Each ramus also has restoration along its edge. Many of the teeth are natural, however just about every tooth appears to have some minor touch-up restoration.

Because the eyes and nostrils were placed high on the head, it was long assumed that Leptauchenia was an aquatic or semi-aquatic animal. However, because their fossils have never been found in floodplain deposits or river channels but are found abundantly abundance in fossil sand dunes, paleontologist Donald Prothero suggests that they were desert-dwelling animals. According to Prothero's interpretation, the high-placed eyes and nostrils served to filter out sand while burrowing, or while digging themselves free of sand dunes.