Palaeos:		Bones: Teeth
Vertebrates		Canines

Canines

Truthfully there is not much to be said about canine teeth. The adaptations required to develop a couple of long, sharp, recurved teeth towards the front of the jaw are simple enough. They have occurred countless times from fish to felines. The utility of such a device is fairly obvious. The teeth get plunged into the selected recipient, and any additional force serves to gouge out a pound of flesh like a heated ice cream scoop. Canines almost always occur as a single pair -- or a pair on each jaw -- since having more than that, unless they were perfectly aligned, would require the teeth to cut laterally through the prey to some degree. This is messy, inefficient and unnecessary. ATW001113.

checked ATW060208
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