Chapter 33, Problem 10STP

Summary Introduction

To analyze:

The teeth of animals that resemble human teeth.

Introduction:

The meat-eating animals are considered carnivores that have tearing teeth and also the skull has the capability of biting in great force. In plant-eating animals or herbivores, the teeth and the skull is formed such that they are used to grind the vegetables or plants they eat. The animals that eat both plants and animals as their food are considered as omnivores, the teeth and the structure of the skull are formed so that is suitable for different food types.

Explanation of Solution

Carnivores being flesh eaters, have sharp long teeth that help them to tear, rip or cut the flesh easily. They have few molar teeth in the back and sharp incisors in the front, but the most useful teeth they have are canine teeth. The herbivores consume plant materials because of which they possess many pairs of molars used for the grinding of leaves, twigs, and shoots. The omnivores eat both plants and the flesh of animals. They involve different types of teeth like incisors and canines to tear and grind the food. The picture given is of two different mammals; the first one is of beaver rodentia, they are herbivores and in the picture, we can observe they have molars and incisors to grind the plant materials. The below picture is of carnivores that have sharp canines along with incisors in the front and molar teeth in the back. The sharp canines are useful to tear the flesh of the other animals. Humans are omnivores, therefore, they have canines but not as sharp as that of carnivores along with molar, premolar, and incisors, hence, humans have some similarity with the teeth of carnivores.

Conclusion

Thus, it is concluded that the given picture shows herbivorous animals that eat plant materials and carnivores that eat animal flesh, and humans have some similarities with the teeth structure of carnivores.