What is the shape of herbivore teeth
- thin ridged or leaf shaped teeth for shearing
- and flat teeth for grinding
What is the shape of carnivore teeth
-they have sharp pointed teeth for shearing and sharp hooked claws for holding on to struggling prey
Do carnivores have serrations
- serrations are small sharp bumps on a tooth
- >arranged in a line that runs from the tip to the base of the tooth
What are the characteristics of a frugivore
- they primarily eat fruit
- > eg; parrot
- > its beak is sharp and hooked
What are the characteristics of piscivores
- they are specialized carnivores
- > they primarily eat fish
- they have tall, sharp conical teeth that are sharp at the tip
- > with no serrations
- > this is to make sure that they are good at spearing and holding on to fish
What are the characteristics of insectivores
- they are specialized carnivores that eat insects
- > eg; shrews and hedgehogss
- some have sharp piercing teeth for puncturing the chitinous exoskeletons of insects
- > others have reduced teeth, as they just need to swallow the soft bodies of insects without chewing
- they also have short limbs and large spade claws
- > this is to help in the digging up for insects
What are the characteristics of omnivores
- they are animals that eat both meat and plants
- > eg; humans, bears, pigs, rats
- they have unspecialized beeks and teeth
- > or a variety of teeth with different shapes
- for humans
- > we have pointed canines, which indicates a characteristic of a carnivore
- > we also have rounded molars, which have a characteristic of a herbivore
What is the process of resorption in relation to dinosaur teeth
- it is the chemical process by which a dinosaur breaks down its on teeth and bones
- > so the mineral and nutrients that compose them can be reused
- loose teeth would be shed while an animal is feeding
- > shed dinosaur tooth are worn and lack roots when found as fossils
What are dental batteries in reference to herbivorous dinosaurs
- they are arrangements of densely packed teeth that collectively form a single, large chewing surface
- the individual teeth that make up the dental batteries are small
- > they are used for chewing and grinding out frequently so they are worn out quickly
-therefore, dinosaurs with dental batteries would need to replace their teeth frequently
Which two groups of dinosaurs evolved dental batteries
-hadrosaurs and ceratopsians evolved dental batteries
Is the chewing surface of a dental battery simple, uniform or smooth
- no it is not simple, uniform or smooth
- >it is intricate, varied and abrasive
Are the dental batteries of hadrosaurs and ceratopsians
- no
- > they don not share a common ancestor
- the way that they use their dental batteries are different as well
- > in hadrosaurs, the chewing surfaces formed by the batteries are pointed downwards
- > ceratopsians dental batteries are almost vertical
How were ankylosaurs/sauropods different from hadrosaurs/ceratopsians
- ankylosaurs/sauropods
- > they had simple teeth that could be used to nip off vegetation
- > but could only break down the food a little
- but they had extraordinary guts to make up for their shitty chewing ability
- > it may have taken them long to chew food but they still got the energy they need
- > due to the extensive series of digestive vats and the amount of food that these vats were able to hold
What kind of herbivores are oviraptorosaurs and ornithomimims
- they are herbivorous theropods
- > they lack teeth
- > they have small masses of little stones inside their ribcages
- > these stones are called gatroliths
What are gastroliths? What is their purpose
- they are stones that are part of the dinosaurs gastric mills
- > stone-filled digesting organ located near the stomach
- > it helps toothless animals chew their food
Describe the process that occurs in gastroliths
- eaten plants are first sent into the gastric mill
- > where muscular contractions grind the rocks against the plants
- > chewed up bits of plants then continue to the stomach and are ready to be enveloped by bacteria and digestive enzymes
Describe the characteristics of dromaeosaurs
- they are a group of theropod dinosaurs
- > carnivours
- > special rod-like projections of their caudal vertebrae and chevrons
- > they have serrated blade like teeth and large sickle-shaped claws on each hind foot
- > retractable claws on the foot to prevent them from scratching the ground as they walk
- > the retractable claws could be used to climb as well
-eg; velociraptor
Describe the characteristics of spinosaurs
- they are a group of theropods that strongly resemble crcodiles
- > thought to be piscivores
Describe the characteristics of alvarezsaurs
- small groups of theropods with short front limbs and compact hands
- > they have reduced teeth and short/strong front limbs
- > were likely to be insectivores
Describe the characteristics of tyrannosaurs
- group of theropods that evolved late in history
- they have serrated teeth edges and are well adapted to cutting and puncturing flesh
What is the meaning of durophagy
-it allows a carnivore to access nutrients within the bones of a carcass that has already been picked at by other carnivores
What is meant by the term cololites
-it is referring to fossil gut contents
What are coprolites
- they are fossil poop
- > gives info to what a dinosaur ate and how it was digested
-eg; T-rex poop ocntains large quantities of bones, which means they are durophagous and that the bone completely passed through their digestive tracts
