Lesson 3: Eating Flashcards
What are the five main feeding adaptations in dinosaurs?
Carnivores – Sharp teeth for slicing meat.
Herbivores – Flat teeth for grinding plants.
Piscivores – Conical teeth for catching fish.
Insectivores – Small/absent teeth for eating insects.
Omnivores – Mixed teeth for both plants and meat.
What were theropods adapted to eat?
Mostly meat. They had sharp, serrated teeth and often hooked claws for catching prey.
What is a dental battery?
A closely packed arrangement of teeth that forms a continuous grinding surface, found in hadrosaurs and ceratopsians.
How did piscivores differ from regular carnivores?
Piscivores had long, conical teeth without serrations, perfect for catching slippery fish (e.g., Spinosaurus).
What adaptations did herbivores have for eating plants?
Flat teeth for grinding.
Long necks to reach food (e.g., sauropods).
Beaks for cropping vegetation.
Gastroliths to grind food in the stomach.
What evidence shows that spinosaurs ate fish?
Conical teeth with no serrations (like modern fish-eaters).
Fossil stomach contents containing fish bones.
Crocodile-like skulls adapted for fishing.
What did alvarezsaurs likely eat?
Insects. Their short, strong arms and spade-shaped claws suggest digging for ants or termites.
What was the function of serrations in theropod teeth?
They worked like a steak knife, helping slice through flesh more efficiently.
Why did some dinosaurs swallow stones (gastroliths)?
To help grind food in the stomach since they lacked chewing teeth.
What unique feature did dromaeosaurs (e.g., Velociraptor) have for hunting?
A sickle-shaped claw on each hind foot, likely used for slashing prey.
How do human teeth differ from dinosaur teeth?
Humans have one set of replacement teeth (baby → adult), while dinosaurs constantly replaced their teeth.
How often did Tyrannosaurus rex replace its teeth?
Every 1.5 to 2 years.
What is resorption in tooth replacement?
The reabsorption of old tooth roots, allowing new teeth to grow in place.
What are shed teeth, and why are they common fossils?
They are naturally lost teeth from dinosaurs, found often because dinosaurs constantly replaced them.
How do shed teeth help paleontologists understand diet?
They show where predators fed on prey, even if the predator didn’t kill the animal.
How do tooth wear patterns help identify diet?
Sharp teeth = Meat-eating.
Worn-down grinding teeth = Plant-eating.
What happens if a dinosaur loses a tooth?
A new tooth grows in its place almost immediately.
How do crocodiles today resemble dinosaurs in terms of teeth?
Like dinosaurs, crocodiles constantly replace their teeth throughout life.
Why do most fossilized dinosaur teeth lack roots?
Because only the crown is shed, while the root is reabsorbed before the new tooth grows.
What does a high rate of tooth replacement indicate?
That the animal had a heavy chewing or biting lifestyle (e.g., T. rex, hadrosaurs).
Why is digesting plants difficult?
Because plant cell walls contain cellulose, which is hard to break down.
What two dinosaur groups had dental batteries?
Hadrosaurs and Ceratopsians
How did hadrosaurs chew food?
They moved their jaws backward, forward, and side to side, using their horizontal dental battery.
How did ceratopsians chew food?
Their vertical dental battery functioned like scissors, grinding food against each other.
