Geese
teeth - do birds have teeth? There's an old expression that said something
in short supply was "rare as hens’ teeth".
While that might be meaningful on a chicken farm it sure doesn’t
apply to all birds. When I told some friends that some geese I’d
seen had fine sets of teeth no one believed me, so in the interests
of setting the record straight I offer the following undoctored photo.
Don't argue with this fellow. They might
not qualify as dentures but they still mean business.
So
what's the deal? Do birds have teeth or not?
I should be careful in my choice of words now. The goose beak might be 'toothed'
but those things aren't really 'teeth'.
The 'teeth' you see in the photo above
aren't the same as the things you and I carry around in our
gums. Unlike lizards and mammals, somewhere during their
evolution birds lost the ability to produce enamel. Enamel
is the tough white stuff that coats our teeth and which makes
them so hard. So those goose teeth won't be as hard as your
own but they would still come in handy cutting through things
like grass. They would also let the goose get a better grip
on slippery things like snails. What this photo shows is
a row of sharp points, or serrations, inside the beak. Scientists
have a word to describe those serrated bird 'teeth'. They
call them 'tomia'.
Okay, just so there's
no confusion, THESE
ONES ARE FAKE.
I manipulated this image in Photoshop.
Did
birds ever have normal teeth?
Yes they did, if you look back in time far enough. During the Mesozoic era birds
were around which had teeth in both jaws. This makes sense when you remember
that birds and modern reptiles seem to have evolved from the same toothy ancestors.
So there was a time when both groups had teeth, and this is confirmed by fossil
evidence.
No
one's questioning the authenticity of these chompers. During
the evolution of the modern crocodile the
ability to make enamel was retained.
Why
did they lose them?
This is a tricky question to answer. There aren't very many high-quality fossils
of birds. Birds have thin, hollow bones and feathers that don't fossilize well.
So scientists have to piece together their stories of ancient birds without much
information. During the time that birds lost their teeth they developed all sorts
of specialised beaks suited to their various diets and the beaks do the job that
the lips and teeth once did. So I won't try to answer the question of why birds
lost their teeth. I'll just have to say that they did.