Assisted by her inherent luckiness, my girlfriend found an incredible rock while we were kayaking on Vancouver Island yesterday.
Here’s a dry picture. Is this a fossilized whale vertebra or another bone?
We thought it was petrified wood at first from the bark-like exterior, rings in the middle and apparent weathering on the bottom end.
Whale bone wet.
But “bone” also crept into our minds, and posing the question on Rock Tumbling Hobby forum confirmed it. Looks like she found a whale bone!
Whale bone bottom side.
Still some questions remain though, such as why the vertebra is in such a parallelogram shape. Maybe with enough rockhound trips on Vancouver Island, we can make a whole whale.
Wet side view shows the parallelogram shape.
Fossils are something I want to be able to identify more in the future. They’re tougher than just seeing pretty rocks, I find. There are ammonites and other fossils around Nanaimo – I want to find them!
Whale bone side shot.
Bottom end of the whale bone.
Another front shot of the fossilized whale bone. Vertebra, leg or…?