In the history of the animal kingdom, sharp and strong teeth are typically associated with carnivorous animals. A new study has revealed that a herbivorous animal developed thousands of teeth throughout their lifetimes. The animal we will talk about in this article is Hadrosaurus, a type of Dinosaur that existed during the Cretaceous time. Curious to know more about the animal? Read this article to know more about this development. The study revealed that these dinosaurs developed thousands of teeth due to their intense appetite for plants and trees. Researchers examined the evolutionary lineage of ornithopods, a group of dinosaurs that included Iguanodon, Hypsilophodon, Rhincodontidae and Hadrosaurus. By the end of the Cretaceous period, these herbivorous dinosaurs dominated most areas of Earth.
A team of scientists, led by Dr Attila Osi from Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary mentioned that the teeth and jaws of ornithopods underwent significant changes during their evolution. It required 200 days to grow teeth for Iguanodon, an early member of the ornithopods. It used to take the same amount of time for the teeth to get worn out.
In the later stages of the Cretaceous period, the teeth of Hadrosaurus used to get worn out within just 50 days. According to researchers, the development of teeth in these dinosaurs was due to their constant consumption of plants and trees that were hard to break and chew. This caused their teeth to get worn out rapidly.
Professor Paul Barrett, a co-author of the study, said in an interview, “In the lifetime of these herbivore animals, their teeth used to get worn out since they lived by eating plants and trees that are often hard to break. Due to this, some dinosaurs eventually lost their teeth altogether. Their problem was quickly solved as they had a unique ability to develop new teeth within a very short time.”
“Initially, they had a simple row of teeth probably because the animals used to consume just fruit and soft trees. But as the evolution took place they started consumption of hard plants and trees. Hadrosaurus has multiple teeth, with ridges on one side and large blade-like edges on the other. This helped them to break hard trees and plants for eating,” the professor added.
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