Learning objective 3.1
what quaility of teeth do herbivores tend to have?
thin, ridged or “leaf-shaped” teeht for shearing and broad flat teeth grinding
- modern birds lack teeth but herbivorous birds ten to have short, triangular beaks
Learning objective 3.1
what quailites of teeht do carnivores tend to have?
sharp pointed teeth for piercing and sharp hooked claws for holding onto struggling prey
- serrations: small sharp bumps on a tooth; helped carnivorous dinosaur teeth to slice through flesh
Learning objective 3.1
Describe frugivores
primarily eat fruit
- beak of a parrot is sharp and hooked = needs to rip and tear apart the peels and protective husks of large tropical fruits
Learning objective 3.1
Describe Piscivores
specialized carnivores that primarily eat fish
tend to have tall sharp conical teeth that usually lack serrations
tend to have long jaws that are capable of snapping shut quicjly
birds tend to have spear shaped beaks that are long strait anf sharp at the tips
Learning objective 3.1
describe insectivores
specialized carnivores that primarily eat insects
some like shrews and hedgehods have sharp piercing teeth for puncturing the chinitious exoskleltons of insects
many have weak jaws and reduced teeth
commonly have large spade-shaped claws and powerful but short limbs
Learning objective 3.1
define durophagy
some carnivores like hyenas, Tasmian devils, and alligators have sharp teeht for puncturing but also have strong rounded teeth that enable them to crack bones
durophagy also requires extremely powerful jaws
Learning objective 3.1
define omnivores
eat both meat and plants
unsepcialized beaks and teeth with different shapes
Learning objective 3.2
define resorption
chemical process by which a dinosaur breaks down its own teeth and bones so that the minerals and nutrients that compose them can be reused
Learning objective 3.3
describe dental batteries
whats it used for? 2 groups that evolved this? chewing surface?
arrangemenets of desnly packed teeth that collectively from a single, large chewing surface
- cellulose is hard to break down and digest on own in big pieves
- hadrosaurs and certopsians evolved this
- chewing surface is intricate, varied and abrasive, both the enamel (covering the outside of a tooth) and the dentine (common on the inside of a tooth) are exposed
Learning objective 3.3
compare the dental batteries of ceratopsiand and hadrosaurs
- unrelated; evolved independently
Hadrosaurs: dental batteries are angled downwards but still mostly horizontal - when they chewed, they moved their jaws backwards forwards, side to side
Ceratopsians: almost vertical - teeth would have slid together like scissor blades with the opposing lateral sides of the teeth doing most of the grinding
both had the batteries inset in the jaw (closer to the teeth) = allowed fore more room with cheeks, holding food in while animal chews
Learning objective 3.3
how did ankylosaurs and sauropods process plant material?
- they had simple teeth that could be used to nip off vegetation
they have huge ribcages taht housed immense digestive organs
they still got energy due to their extensive series of digestive vats and the sheer volume of food their digestive tracks were able to hold
