Oreodont Jaw Section & Bone In Rock - South Dakota

This is a jaw section of an Oreodont that contains three (and possibly more in the matrix) teeth. There is another small piece of bone attached to the rock. This specimen was collected from the the Brule Formation in South Dakota and would be approximately 32-34 million years old.

Oreodonts are extinct mammals most closely related to camels and pigs, though they have no close relatives living today. They were herbivorous animals with short faces and fang-like canine teeth. About the size of a sheep, they roamed the plains of North America in huge numbers during the Oligocene period.