[HN Gopher] Adult Komodo teeth are similar to those of theropod ...
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       Adult Komodo teeth are similar to those of theropod dinosaurs: new
       research
        
       Author : geox
       Score  : 26 points
       Date   : 2024-02-07 20:07 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | adrian_b wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | not sure if this is just chatgpt, but analogous evolution is
         | interesting to see
        
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