Posted on 07/20/2013 5:06:11 PM PDT by null and void
July 17, 2013 — Rapid tooth replacement by sauropods, the largest dinosaurs in the fossil record, likely contributed to their evolutionary success, according to a research paper by Stony Brook University paleontologist Michael D'Emic, PhD, and colleagues.
This is an illustration of a skull of Diploducus alongside the research team’s CT scan-generated images of some teeth in the front of its jaws. Bone is transparent and teeth are yellow. The arrows show the direction of tooth replacement, which is back to front similar to a shark. (Credit: Image courtesy of Stony Brook University)
Paleontologists have long wondered how sauropods digested massive amounts of foliage that would have been necessary for their immense sizes. In "Evolution of high tooth replacement rates in sauropod dinosaurs," the team of paleontologists reveal that their new research into the microscopic structure of sauropod teeth shows the dinosaurs formed and replaced teeth faster than any other type of dinosaurs -- more like sharks and crocodiles -- and this process kept teeth fresh given the immense amount of wear they underwent from clipping off enormous volumes of food required for them.
"The microscopic structure of teeth and bones records aspects of an animal's physiology, giving us a window into the biology of long-extinct animals," said Dr. D'Emic, Research Instructor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. "We determined that for the gigantic sauropods, each tooth took just a few months to form. Effectively, sauropods took a 'quantity over quality' approach."
Dr. D'Emic explained that unlike mammals and some other dinosaurs, sauropods did not chew their food. They snipped food into smaller pieces before swallowing.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
ping
Well then, getting a ‘grill’ should be a major benefit.
Contributed to their success...for a while.
Must be a correct finding, the place is crawling with dinosaurs.
Somehow the words, “Largest Dinosaurs” and “Evolutionary Success” sound funny to me. Not sure why...
Maybe it’s because dinosaurs survived for tens of millions of years and humans have only managed to survive a few hundred thousand?
I could certainly use some tooth replacement, but my dental isn’t as good as what the sauropods had.
Yeah right. Lmao
Maybe it’s because dinosaurs survived for tens of millions of years and humans have only managed to survive 6016 years.
Better?
Dinosaurs were the dominant species for something like 150 million years until wiped out by meteor 65 million ya. Man has been the dominant species for less than 10,000 years.
Rapid tooth replacement has certainly worked for sharks. In fact it might even be that the genes for rapid tooth replacement in sharks and dinos are the same. The book “Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Sean Carroll points out that genetic material is frequently reused—like the mammalian spinal cord, the segments of insects and the segments of earthworms.
Regarding the method of using teeth. I just read Jurassic Park (somewhat different than the move and very interesting). There it was hypothesized that herbivore dinosaurs were using gizzard stones to grind up their plant food. With their relatively small heads biting and chewing just would not have accomplished enough nutrition. Chomping and swallowing would be much more efficient.
We have a washout over on the big ranch where we find lots of teeth everytime it rains. They average 2 to 3 inches long and 3/8ths to 1/2 in diameter.
Amazing that some people insist that just because a drunk monk says the entire universe is only 6016 years, 9 months, 21 days, 29 hours and 58 minutes old, nothing can be older.
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