• Question: why do some animals have sharp teeth

    Asked by rate520peps on 14 Feb 2025.
    • Photo: Rachael Eggleston

      Rachael Eggleston answered on 14 Feb 2025:

      Usually, animals have sharp teeth so they can hunt and eat meat- itโ€™s easier to eat meat with sharp teeth than flat ones.

Comments

  • Photo: Andrew M

    Andrew M commented on :

    There are many reasons but one common thread โ€“ having sharp teeth offers some evolutionary advantage to the animal. Sharp teeth will have made it more likely that their ancestors survived and passed on their genes to the next generation and that they themselves will do the same. This might be through better access to food (for example lions), greater ability to build shelters (beavers), better ability to defend themselves, to fight off rivals or to attract mates (baboons), but there will be a reason why, to the creature, having sharp teeth is better than not having them.

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    The shape and size of an animalโ€™s teeth are clues as to the kind of food they eat โ€“ if the teeth at the front which you can see easily are sharp itโ€™s generally because theyโ€™re meat eaters (also known as carnivores) โ€“ the sharp edges help them to pull the fibres of meat apart so that they can swallow and then digest the smaller pieces. If their teeth are flatter/less sharp it may be that theyโ€™re vegetarian (also called herbivores) and they need flat, ridged teeth to break down the cell walls of grass/leaves which are made of cellulose before they can be digested inside their stomach/other parts of their digestive system.