Adult Komodo teeth are similar to those of theropod dinosaurs: new research

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-adult-komodo-teeth-similar-theropod.html

by geox • 2 years ago

40 5 2 years ago

adrian_b• 2 years ago

While this new research has provided a lot of additional details about the structure and the growth of the teeth of the varanids, the fact that among all living animals they have the teeth that are the most similar to those of the carnivorous theropod dinosaurs has been known for many decades.

The theropod dinosaurs and the varanids a.k.a. monitor lizards have a so-called ziphodont dentition, i.e. teeth that have sharp edges that are serrated, like a bread knife. This is an obvious adaptation to cut easily the flesh and skin of the prey by biting, then pulling.

Among the living vertebrates, such serrated teeth are also typical for sharks and piranhas, however there the teeth have a different form, i.e. triangular, because their movement is different, they cut during the bite, not during the pulling motion that follows the bite.

While among the living tetrapods only the varanids have such serrated teeth, in the past there have been many other animals with similar serrated teeth. Besides the theropod dinosaurs there have been some extinct crocodilians, some mosasaurs, some pliosaurs, some phytosaurs, a few ichthyosaurs, some rauisuchians (these are triassic predators) and also a few saber-toothed synapsids that belong to the ancestors of mammals.

Such teeth are necessary for a predator whose prey is big, so it is necessary to be able to cut pieces of it in order to eat it.

Most living reptiles eat their prey whole, so they do not need such teeth. The modern crocodilians have another method of cutting, by biting then shaking, presumably because in water and with a short neck it would be difficult to pull backwards strongly enough the flesh of the prey, while the mammals have differentiated dentition, with some teeth specialized for cutting, which leaves the varanids as the only predators of large prey that cut it in the same manner as the carnivorous dinosaurs, by biting and pulling back.

senseiV• 2 years ago

not sure if this is just chatgpt, but analogous evolution is interesting to see

kurthr• 2 years ago

Wow, it really does have that sound. I'm trying to figure out exactly what about the phrasing feels that way, while at the same time it doesn't seem like it's as uniformly broken up as most GPT answers are. Of course it could be an edited combo as well.

dekhn• 2 years ago

not only are the teeth very effective at defleshing (!) they are loaded with disease-causing bacteria and venom, too

beacon294• 2 years ago

The wikipedia article "Komodo Dragon" clarifies that they don't have more than usual bacteria, it is because of the habits of their natural prey and the contamination of local water sources.

Adult Komodo teeth are similar to those of theropod dinosaurs: new research

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