Animals with little teeth are great, but animals with big teeth are even greater! We all find huge teeth fascinating, perhaps because of their ability to outlast flesh and bones for millions of years.
Teeth have played an integral part in evolution and studying them has helped palaeontologists to discover all sorts of fantastic things about life on Earth.
Mammals are unique because they have different types of teeth for different jobs, whereas fish and reptiles share spear like or spiked teeth.
But which are the animals with the biggest teeth in the world? Read on to find out:
The Alligator
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The sight of an Alligator snapping it’s teeth would terrify the best of us, but this reptile only comes in at number ten on our list.
Alligators have up to eighty teeth in their mouths at any one time, but worn teeth are constantly replenished, which means they can use up to three thousand teeth during their lifetime.
The Lion
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Number nine on the list, lions have teeth that are perfectly suited to their environment. Their longest teeth can be up to 9 cm and a Lion’s bite has a power of around 1000 lbs per square inch, meaning that once you’ve been pinned by one of these magnificent creatures you will not be getting unpinned!
The Megaladon
This extinct creature made number eight with teeth measuring as much as 18cm. Magaladon’s were giant sharks living in the Cenezoic age. In fact these animals were named after their impressive jaws as Megaladon means ‘giant tooth’.
The Sperm Whale
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These giant water mammals reached number seven on the list thanks to their huge molars. Sperm Whale teeth only protrude from the lower jaw and can grow up to 18 cm. A large tooth can weight as much as a kilo.
The Sabre Toothed Tiger
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At number six on the list, this extinct mammals 23cm long teeth are certainly impressive. This creature had the largest teeth of any of the prehistoric mammals and it’s eponymous giant canines have made Sabre Toothed Tigers one of the most studied prehistoric animals.
The Warthog
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Unusually, the warthog’s 23cm teeth are not generally used for eating but are more likely to be employed in carrying a kill or establishing dominance. This vicious creature made number five on the list.
The T Rex
Our number four, The Tyrannosaurus Rex, is the most famous of all the dinosaurs thanks in part to its terrifying teeth. It’s curved banana shaped teeth could reach lengths of 24 cm and were the T Rex’s most powerful weapon.
The Walrus
Even the T Rex’s teeth pale in comparison to our third place animal. Walrus teeth can grow to over 100cm and are the largest canines of any animal living or dead. Walrus’ use their teeth as a weapon and a tool as they are employed to establish dominance and to help them climb from the water onto the ice.
The African Elephant
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This majestic creature is our number two with teeth that are 3 metres long. African elephant tusks weight up to 9 kg and grow 18 inches every year. Incredibly in many African elephant reserves staff clean the creatures’ mighty tusks with toothbrushes. That would be a job that even the most highly qualified endodontist would baulk at!
The Mastodon
This prehistoric predecessor to the elephant is our number one with teeth measuring nearly four and a half metres long. George Langford Senior discovered the largest Mastadon tooth yet in the early 1900′s, but it’s not known whether an even larger one could be discovered.
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