Bringing Georgia's Natural History to Georgians
  • Natural History & Geology
    • Podcast; The Tivola Whale
    • Coastal Plain Correlation Chart
    • GA Paleo Research by Paul F. Huddlestun PhD >
      • Late Eocene & Older... Coastal Plain Stratigraphy
      • Washington County Core Logs By Paul Huddlestun
      • Coastal Plain Core Logs by Paul F. Huddlestun
    • Presentation; Oaky Woods Stratigraphy
    • Physiographic Map of Georgia
    • Fossils of Oaky Woods
    • Collections & Stewardship of Georgia’s Fossils
    • I, Periarchus (A Fossil's Tale)
    • Georgia's Amateurs >
      • Amateur; Jared Dyche, On The Way To A Degree
      • Cam Muskelly, Duluth, GA
      • Kyle Keller, Valdosta, GA >
        • Kyle Keller Returns, Still Rocking!
      • Hank Josey, Dublin
      • Bill Christy; Kamin Performance Minerals Fossils
    • Public Fossil Locations >
      • South Houston County Fossils
      • Updated; Islands of the Savannah River
    • Georgia Fossils in the Smithsonian
  • Education Material
    • My Field Kit; What You Need In The Field
    • Meet Crassostrea gigantissima, Georgia's Historic Giant Oyster
    • Georgiacetus Presentation; A Whale for Georgia
    • The Natural History & Fossils Record of Houston County, GA
    • Evolution in Georgia's Fossil Record
    • Georgia's State Fossil; Shark Teeth
    • Georgia's Paleontology For Georgia's Classrooms
    • SW GA RESA 2018 Talk
    • Library & School Presentations
    • An Introduction To Fossils; Presentation
    • Georgia's Fossils Presentation; 500 million years
    • Georgia College Natural History Museum
  • Meteorites
    • Did I Find A Meteorite?
    • Georgia's Lost Meteorite
    • Georgia's Witnessed Meteorite Falls
    • The Sardis Iron, Georgia's Largest Meteorite
  • 1: Georgia's Oldest Fossils; Archaeocyathids, At 513 Million Years Old
  • 2: Trilobites; 500 Million Years Ago
    • 2A; Murray County Stromatolites
    • 2B; A Trilobite Nest in Georgia
  • 3: Geologic Time
  • 4: Our Oldest Vertebrate?
  • 5: Georgia Before the Dinosaurs
    • 5A; Georgia’s Pennsylvanian Plant Fossils
    • 5B: Carpentertypus durhami, Georgia’s Giant Insect, 315 Million Years Ago
  • 6: 200 Million Years Ago
    • 6A: Birth of the Atlantic Ocean
  • 7: Cretaceous Georgia, Dinosaurs & more
    • 7A: Georgias Pterosaur
    • 7C: Coelecanths
    • 7B: So Many Sharks
    • 7D: Xiphactinus vetus
    • 7E: Side-necked turtles
    • 7F: Marine Reptiles
    • 7G: Dinosaurs in Georgia
    • 7I; The Blufftown Formation
    • 7L: Bill Montante's Mega "Gator" Tooth Discovery
    • 7K: The Pio Nono Formation
    • 7J: The Eutaw Formation
    • 7H: Deinosuchus schwimmeri in Recognition of Dr. David Schwimmer
  • 8: Suwannee Current, Gulf Trough, & Bridgeboro Limestone
  • 9: The Clayton Formation Report; By Hank Josey
    • 9A: The Georgia Turtle
  • 10: The Eocene; Georgia's Oldest Mammals
    • 10A: The Origins of Whales
  • 11: A Whale For Georgia
  • 12: Basilosaurids; The First Modern Whales
    • 12A: Basilosaurus cetoides
    • 12B: Basilotritus
    • 12C: Cynthiacetus (Revised)
    • 12D: Chrysocetus
    • 12E: The Redmond Mandible of Albany Ga
    • 12F; Houston County, GA Basilosaurus to the Smithsonian
  • 13: Ziggy and The Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, GA
  • 14: Late Eocene
    • 14A: Eocene Fossils & Stratigraphy
    • 14B; Fossils, Impacts, & Tektites Dating the Clinchfield Formation
    • 14C: The Tivola Limestone
    • 14D: Twiggs Clay Vertebrates
    • 14F; Sandersville Limestone, By Hank Josey
    • 14E: Ocmulgee Formation Vertebrates
    • 14I: Dating Late Eocene Sediments
    • 14J: Georgia's Tektites; Georgiaites
    • 14K; Shell Bluff; Georgia's Most Historic Paleontology Site
    • 14L; Taylors Bluff, Paleo Paddling the Ocmulgee River
    • 14M; Eocene Terrestrial Mammals From Gordon, GA
    • 14N: Fossil Ridge, A Stratigraphic Study in Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area
    • 14O; Georgia's First Entelodont
    • 14P: Historic Rich Hill
    • 14Q; Bibb County's Christy Hill, Clinchfield Formation Hilltop
  • 15: Early Oligocene
    • 15A: The Marianna Limestone
    • 15B; The Glendon Limestone
    • 15C: Undiffereniated Oligocene Residuum
    • 15D; Brissus bridgeboroensis; A New Echinoid Species From Georgia’s Bridgeboro Limestone
    • 15E: The Curious Steinkern Sea Biscuits of Red Dog Farm Road
    • 15F: Early Oligocene Gordian Knot
  • 16: Bonaire GA Entelodont
  • 17: The Whale Eating Shark
  • 18: Miocene Epoch; 23.3 to 5.3 Million Years Ago
    • 18A; Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates
    • 18B; Paul Fell, Rockhouse Cave
    • 18C: The Marks Head Formation
    • 18D: Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates of the Marks Head Formation
    • 18E: The Statenville Formation
    • 18F: South Georgia’s Dugong Metaxytherium calvertense
  • 19: Pliocene Epoch; 5.3 to 2.5 Million years Ago
    • 19A: Two Small Primitive Horses from Taylor County Advance the Science of Georgia Geology
  • 20: The Ice Ages; Pleistocene & Holocene Epochs
    • 20A; Clark Quarry's Mammoths & Bison
    • 20B: Pleistocene Vertebrate List
    • 20C: Georgia’s Eolian Dunes
    • 20D: Georgia’s Carolina Bays
    • 20E: Late Pleistocene Significant Events
    • 20F: Southeastern Thermal Enclave
    • 20G; Diamond Back Terrapins
    • 20H; A Kaolin Mine Beaver Dam
    • 20I; Pleistocene Vertebrate Fossils On Georgia’s Piedmont
    • 20J; Watkins Quarry Pleistocene Vertebrates, Glynn County, GA
  • *NEW* 20K: Pleistocene Vertebrates from Coastal Georgia
  • 21: Humans in Georgia
  • 22: Geology of the Coastal Plain, 1911
    • 22A: 1911 Cretaceous Fossil Locations
    • 22B: 1911 Eocene Fossil Locations
  • 23: Coastal GA Locations (1957)
  • 24: Needed; The Georgia Geologic Survey
  • Building This Site
    • Origins Of This Site
    • Contributing Artists
    • Black & White Sketches

14O: Georgia's First Entelodont Report
A Terminator Pig


By Thomas Thurman
Revised 1/Nov/2020
​

Picture
Terminator Pigs (The Entelodonts) 
In 1969 Dr. Michael Voorhies, who at the time was a paleontology professor with the University of Georgia received what was thought to be a worn manatee tooth from the Tivola Limestone of Twigg’s County, Georgia. 

Dr. Voorhies reported that the tooth was collected by experienced amateur Bill Christy from Huber Mine’s Pit 22. (Huber Mines in this location are now owned by Kamin Performance Minerals, but Pit 22 is long reclaimed & returned to the owners.)


In several locations the Tivola Limestone overlies the Clinchfield Formation; it’s slightly younger than the Clinchfield. Manatee fossils are well known to occur in the Tivola Limestone. The specimen was assigned number UGV-41 and filed away in the University of Georgia collection. 
​
Picture
​
Sadly, this important scientific specimen seems to no longer exist. Repeated inquiries concerning this fossil, & others Voorhies collected, were submitted to both UGA's Geology Department & Georgia Museum of Natural History at UGA. These requests have either been ignored or earned replies that they are not in, nor the responsibility of, "...this Department".

Former students have reported that UGA's vertebrate fossil collection got scattered, decades ago, across many classrooms as loaned-out teaching aids and were subsequently misplaced, discarded, or lost. If true, this is shockingly poor behavior for such a well funded and scientifically active institution.

​
Picture

In 1982 researchers Daryl P. Domining, Gary S. Morgan and Clayton E. Ray from the Smithsonian Institute were studying early manatee (Order: Sirenia) fossils. As relatives of elephants they were trying to correlate how, where, and when manatees returned to the sea 50 million years ago. They’re the only fully marine, mammalian herbivores. 

The researchers requested an opportunity to review Voorhies tooth. Upon studying the specimen, they explained that they believed this to be a deeply worn entelodont (terminator pig) tooth from a mature, even aged animal. Not a manatee fossil at all.
​ 
​​
Picture
​The quote from the Smithsonian paper reads as follows:

Dr. Voorhies kindly lent the deeply worn tooth, UGV-41, for study, and after considerable difficulty in interpretation, we concluded that it compares most favorably to upper right first or second molars of entelodonts (including Achaenodon).
​
It is worthwhile to note that Achaenodon is genus of a hoofed, even-toed ungulate similar to a pig and related to entelodonts, but Achaenodon is not an entelodont. 

Described as looking like a cross between a bear and a tapir Achaenodons are considered to be a grazer-browsers but is not hunters. 
​

Picture

​Entelodonts are known to have been omnivores and there is evidence that they hunted. Achaenodon has been reported from several locations of the American west and dated to from 46 to 38 million years ago. I am aware of no Georgia record for Achaenodon

Upon review, Dr. Voorhies agreed with the entelodont identification. His early mistake is very understandable as this was the very first entelodont fossil Georgia had ever produced. The find was completely unexpected. 

A recent email from Dr. Gary S. Morgan who participated in the 1982 Smithsonian siren research confirmed this story. Dr. Morgan is currently Curator of Paleontology for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.
​

Picture
Dr. Morgan reports that later field research by University of Georgia scientists recovered additional entelodont fossils in both the Tivola Limestone and the overlying Twiggs Clay formation; terrestrial vertebrates were recovered from a lens of sandy red clay 50ft above Twiggs base. This confirmed the presence of a population of entelodonts in Georgia 35 million years ago. 

Several attempts to get more information about the recovery of additional entelodont, or any vertebrate material, from the University of Georgia (UGA) were unsuccessful. Nor has any official report or published paper of entelodonts recovered the Twiggs Clay been seen or made available for review. 

The family of entelodonts or terminator pigs were large omnivorous animals which walked the Earth from The Middle Eocene Epoch until the Early Miocene Epoch from about 40 million years ago to 16.5 million years ago. 

Their fossils are very well known, studied, and represented in western North America. They are also known from Europe and Asia. 
​
Though similar in appearance, they are only distantly related to modern pigs. They were heavy bodied, long muzzled, powerfully jawed, formidable hoofed animals. Bison sized members of the entelodont family, such as the genus Daedon, stood more than six feet at the shoulders.

They seem built to run for short bursts.  


There is ample evidence that entledonts were predators; Dr. Al Mead, a vertebrate paleontologist with Georgia College and State University (whose unrelated Pleistocene work we’ll look at later) researched entelodonts in South Dakota and studied one Miocene age oreodont skull which had an entelodont tooth embedded in it. Oreodonts are sheep-like herbivores distantly related to camels.

Unfortunately, further research in KaMin Pit 22 is impossible; below is an email from Carl Joyce, Senior Geologist for Kamin. Mr. Joyce was not aware of the entelodont finds previous to our email exchanges. 
​
12/Sept/2012
Mr. Thurman,  
​

I am aware of the plant fossils that were present in the Twiggs clay in our old 22 Mine site. We have long since finished mining, reclaimed this mine and released it back to the landowner. In hind site we should have preserve this location for fossil collections. At present, KaMin does not own any good fossil collection sites, but we do have one lease property that has a good exposure of the Tivola.   

Sincerely Carl  
Carl E. Joyce 
Exploration & Land Management
Senior Geologist; PG
KaMin Performance Minerals

​
Artwork; Sunni Zembloski
These images of Georgia’s entelodont were created by the artist Sunni Zemblowski whom I had the pleasure to meet one day at Georgia Southwestern. She attended a talk I gave over how Georgia’s fossils could be used in science education. Described as a superb student by Professor Laurel Robinson, she is a bright and gifted artist capable of telling a story with a hand full of images. In these two panels she has not only told the tale of the tooth, but created a fictional Georgia Paleontology Museum actively educating our students. When these images were shown to several Georgia paleontologists, from multiple schools, the work was very well received. 
Picture
Picture
References
  1. ​Personal communications as indicated in text.
  2. Domning. Daryl P.; Morgan, Gary S.; Ray, & Clayton E.; North American Eocene Sea Cows(Mammalia: Sirenia), Smithsonian Contributions to Paloebiology, #52, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 1982