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Hi Marie-Anne, I have examined 243 first phalanges of South Scandinavian aurochs (Bos primigenius) for morphological abnormalities, and from your brief description it does not sound like anything I have come across in this material. In Neolithic domestic cattle I have seen severe exostoses between a pair of first phalanges, and I think this reflected an infection of the soft tissue between the toes (perhaps what is known as foul-in-the-foot) with resultant inflammation of the bones. But it's quite hard to say much about what you found without having seen it, so I would encourage you to post one or more photos of this phenomenon on the web page of the Palaeopathology Work Group http://www.apwg.supanet.com/index1.html In any case, what do you mean, more precisely, by "a regular feature"? Best wishes, Niels Johannsen Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Aarhus ----- Original Message ----- From: Julien Marie-Anne To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 12:16 AM Subject: [ZOOARCH] bison phalanges pathology ? Hi, I have noticed pitting on the mesial surface of the 1st phalanges in specimens of Bison now (in two cases the phalanges match -i.e., the pitting is between the toes). Could this be a regular feature rather than a pathology? Many thanks, Marie-Anne JULIEN PhD Student MNHN / University of Montreal [log in to unmask] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com