The carcass of a large long-necked dinosaur in the Junggar Basin in northwestern China served as food for several other dinosaurs, Tübingen paleontologists say, citing tooth marks on the bones and several dinosaur teeth, ...
Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 22, 2020
0
264
A team of scientists led from Uppsala University have described the earliest known example of dentary bone with two rows of cusps on molars and double-rooted teeth. The new findings offer insight into mammal tooth evolution, ...
Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 13, 2020
0
304
A discovery of more than a thousand dinosaur teeth, by a team of researchers from the University of Portsmouth, proves beyond reasonable doubt that Spinosaurus, the giant predator made famous by the movie Jurassic Park III ...
Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 21, 2020
0
499
Mineral dust ingested with food causes distinct signs of wear on the teeth of plant-eating vertebrates, which can differ considerably depending on the type of dust. This is what paleontologists at Johannes Gutenberg University ...
Archaeology & Fossils
Aug 25, 2020
0
21
The evolution of human teeth began among ancient armored fishes more than 400 million years ago. In the scientific journal Science, an international team led by researchers from Uppsala University presents groundbreaking ...
Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 09, 2020
0
283
A team of researchers working at Japan's Okinawa Churashima Research Center has found that whale sharks have thousands of dermal denticles (tiny teeth) in the skin surrounding their eyeballs. In their paper posted on the ...
As bad as things might seem here in 2020, they could be worse: we could be living 252 million years ago during the Permian mass extinction. Volcanic eruptions and dramatic, sudden climate change killed most of the animals ...
Archaeology & Fossils
May 08, 2020
1
354
A new study by University of Alberta paleontologists shows that one type of ancient reptiles evolved a special type of tooth enamel, similar to that of mammals, with high resistance to wear and tear.
Archaeology & Fossils
May 07, 2020
0
323
A new University of Wisconsin Oshkosh analysis of raptor teeth published in the peer-reviewed journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology shows that Velociraptors and their kin likely did not hunt in big, coordinated ...
Archaeology & Fossils
May 06, 2020
6
2381
A new article published in Nature Communications applies stable isotope analysis to a collection of fossil human teeth from the islands of Timor and Alor in Wallacea to study the ecological adaptations of the earliest members ...
Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 29, 2020
0
289
Teeth (singular tooth) are small whitish structures found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates that are used to tear, scrape, and chew food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or defense. The roots of teeth are covered by gums. Teeth are not made of bone, but rather of tissues of varying density and hardness.
Teeth are among the most distinctive (and long-lasting) features of mammal species. Paleontologists use teeth to identify fossil species and determine their relationships. The shape of the animal's teeth are related to its diet. For example, plant matter is hard to digest, so herbivores have many molars for chewing. Carnivores, on the other hand, need canines to kill prey and to tear meat.
Mammals are diphyodont, meaning that they develop two sets of teeth. In humans, the first set (the "baby," "milk," "primary" or "deciduous" set) normally starts to appear at about six months of age, although some babies are born with one or more visible teeth, known as neonatal teeth. Normal tooth eruption at about six months is known as teething and can be painful.
Some animals develop only one set of teeth (monophyodont) while others develop many sets (polyphyodont). Sharks, for example, grow a new set of teeth every two weeks to replace worn teeth. Rodent incisors grow and wear away continually through gnawing, maintaining relatively constant length. Many rodents such as voles (but not mice) and guinea pigs, as well as rabbits, have continuously growing molars in addition to incisors.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
