Skulls & Teeth vs Diet of Modern Animals
Carnivores: Grasp Prey and Swallow Whole
Commonly found in fish eaters (and insect eaters)
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Sea Lion Skull:
| Alligator Teeth:
| Dolphin Teeth:
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Carnivores: Crush Hard-shelled Prey
Feed on clams, snails, crabs, turtles, etc.
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Caiman Lizard Skull:
| Spottail Pinfish Jaw:
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Carnivores: Slice Vertebrate Prey
Eat large animal prey by slicing or cutting off chunks of flesh
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Jackal skull: Note cheek teeth
| Monitor Lizard Skull:
| Shark teeth (from left to right: Serratolamna, Palaeocarcharodon, Otodus, Squalicorax)
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Herbivores: Shear, Crop or Pluck Plants
Use blade-like teeth to crop leaves and other plant parts that are then swallowed whole
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Iguana Lizard Teeth:
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Herbivores: Grinding Plants
Grind up plants in mouth (chewing) before swallowing
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Deer Skull (note grinding surfaces on cheek teeth):
| Horse Skull (front incisors crop vegetation, cheek teeth grind it):
| Beaver Skull:
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Omnivores
Eat a mixed diet of both plant and animal matter
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Peccary (Javelina) Skull:
| Chimpanzee Skull:
| Snapping Turtle Skull (most turtles are carnivorous when young but become omnivorous or herbivorous when older; beaks can support a variety of diets):
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Dinosaur Teeth
Use your knowledge of modern animal diets (above) to determine the diets of marine reptiles and dinosaurs
Marine Reptile (Mosasaur) Teeth
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Mosasaurus beaugei Tooth:
| Liodon anceps Tooth:
| Globidens aegypticus Tooth:
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Theropod Dinosaur Teeth
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Dromeosaur Tooth:
| Tyrannosaurus Tooth:
| Spinosaurus Tooth:
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Dental Batteries
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Individual Hadrosaur Tooth:
| Edmontosaurus (a type of Hadrosaur) Dental Battery:
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Other Dinosaur Teeth
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Camarasaurus Tooth:
| Rebbachisaurus Tooth:
| Ankylosaurus Tooth:
| Triceratops Tooth:
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