Re: Question: Why did birds lose their teeth?

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

I wonder if teeth might get in the way when nest-building...


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On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 11:34 PM EDT Augusto Haro wrote:

>I remember reading that teeth involved not only stouter tooth-bearing
>bones, but also more jaw muscular mass, and neck muscular mass. It was
>argued that being so front-heavy would be not good for balance, overall
>when flying, moreover if the neck was too long. Replacing teeth with a
>gastric mill to a greater degree would permit to keep the center of gravity
>behind the wings.
>Other impression I have is that tooth loss may favour omnivory over
>carnivory, for the spiky teeth of Cretaceous ornithurines look worst than a
>beak while eating vegetable matter (may something like that also happen in
>other coelurosaurs and turtles?). And omnivory may have favoured survival
>at the K/T boundary.
>Cheers,
>Augusto