M
ost animals can’t get very far in the wild without a good set of chompers. Teeth, I mean.
After fi nding a tasty morsel or chasing down prey, an animal needs to be able to bite it, chew it, grind it, mash it up, and swallow it. And what better way to do that than by using teeth? But it might surprise you to know that animals use their teeth in other ways. Sure, teeth can help an animal eat dinner. But teeth can also help an animal fi nd and catch a meal, too. Teeth are important tools for survival.
Pincher A crocodile’s mouth is full of teeth, but they don’t use them to chew. Crocs use their teeth like pinchers to catch and hold their food. When a croc’s powerful jaws clamp down, its teeth grip the prey. What happens next isn’t pretty. T e croc rolls
its body in the water, dragging the prey along with it. Spin, spin, spin until the prey drowns. T en the croc thrashes its head from side to side until a piece of the prey falls off . T e croc swallows the piece whole. Over its lifetime, a croc might grow as many
as 3,000 teeth. But only around 60 teeth fill its mouth at any one time.
Multi-Purpose Tool Take elephants, for example. Elephants boast some of the longest and largest teeth in the world. T eir teeth can weigh as much as 180 kilograms. I don’t mean the molars in the back of their mouths. I’m talking about their tusks. T at’s right: tusks are teeth. Tusks are overgrown upper teeth that poke
out of an elephant’s mouth. But while elephants are herbivores, or eat only plants, they don’t use their tusks to grind up plants. Instead, tusks are used for other survival
tasks, like digging for water, salt, or roots. T ese are things elephants need to stay healthy. Elephants love to snack on tree bark. Tusks are a handy tool to strip that bark off trees. Tusks can be used like a forkliſt to move something out of the way. Male elephants even use their tusks to fight other male elephants.
4 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
Spear A Sloane’s viperfish uses its thin and razor-sharp teeth as spears. T e viperfish holds the world’s fish record for largest teeth relative to the size of its head. Its teeth are so extreme they don’t even fit in its mouth. When its mouth is closed, the teeth curve upward toward its eyes or downward toward its chin. A viperfish is an aggressive hunter. It swims
toward prey at high speeds. With jaws open wide, it then impales the prey on impact. T e viperfish can’t use its teeth to chew, so it must swallow whatever it spears whole.
Pinch
Spear
Tool
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