New research discovers adult Komodo teeth are surprisingly similar to those of theropod dinosaurs

Kilat, the premier residing lizard at the Toronto Metro Zoo, like other customers of his species (Varanus komodoensis), genuinely deserves to be named the Komodo dragon. His amazing dimension and the way he appears to be like at you and tracks your just about every go can make you know that he is an apex predator, not unlike a ferocious theropod dinosaur.

So, it is not stunning when you look around at his enclosure to uncover that there are shed enamel glowing on the ground, a frequent locate when searching for Mesozoic theropod dinosaurs. This startling phenomenon has led researchers to examine the teeth and feeding actions of this predator. The Toronto Zoo Crew gathered several drop enamel and permitted the group to undertake this analyze, and skulls in the skeletal collection of the Royal Ontario Museum had been also built obtainable to them.

Past scientific tests have focused on the special feeding habits of the Komodo dragon but have not connected this to its unique dental morphology, advancement, and replacement. The group examined the dentition and jaws of grownups and juveniles with a mix of histological investigation and computed tomography (CT). They found that the adult Komodo enamel ended up shockingly similar to these of theropod dinosaurs, with the strongly recurved tooth of adults getting serrated slicing edges that have been strengthened by dentine cores.

“We were being very excited by this discovery simply because it will make the Komodo an suitable dwelling model organism for reports of the existence background and feeding approaches of the extinct theropod dinosaurs,” claimed Ph.D. college student Tea Maho, lead author of a paper on this investigate, printed in PLOS Just one.

The Komodo dragon, like most other reptiles, which includes the extinct theropod dinosaurs, replaces its tooth constantly all over its everyday living. The histology—a common approach for finding out the microstructure of teeth—and X-ray CT of Komodo dragon heads confirmed that the Komodo dragon maintains up to 5 substitution enamel for each tooth posture in their jaws.

“Acquiring this a lot of teeth inside the jaw at a specified time is a special feature among the predatory reptiles, and only witnessed In the Komodo,” mentioned Dr. Robert Reisz, co-creator of the exploration paper.

Most other known reptiles have one or at most two substitute teeth in the jaw, and this includes most theropod dinosaurs. Maybe the most astonishing discovery was that the Komodo started out to make new enamel in each tooth posture each individual 40 days. This is why there have been so several drop enamel in the Komodo dragon enclosure, and this is how new tooth quite speedily substitute the outdated useful tooth. Other reptiles, which includes most theropod dinosaurs, generally took 3 months to make a substitution tooth, at times as long as a 12 months.

“So, if in the wild a tooth breaks through prey capture or defleshing, no problem, a new 1 would substitute the broken tooth really rapidly,” spelled out Tea Maho.

Due to the fact the workforce had skulls and enamel of both equally older people and juveniles of the Komodo, they had been also equipped to explore an appealing correlation concerning the Komodo dragons’ tooth and their feeding actions. Hatchlings and juvenile Komodos have a lot more fragile teeth, not suited for the regular defleshing habits of the adults, and shell out most of their time in the trees, avoiding the older people and feeding mainly on bugs and compact vertebrates.

As they improve to grownup dimensions, their tooth transform considerably in condition, and they sooner or later descend from the trees to turn out to be apex predators, ready to attack and kill something in their domain.

The scientists also noticed that the front enamel of the Komodo grown ups are either very compact or wholly lacking. This uncommon dental morphology correlates properly with their tongue-flicking conduct, making use of the slender, forked snake-like tongue to forage for prey devoid of owning to open the mouth.