This dinosaur species replaced its teeth every two months: Study

A carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago replaced all its teeth every two months or so, revealed a recent study. The study that was published in Plos One journal said that the dinosaur named Majungasaurus grew new teeth every couple of months. It also revealed that that the animal that lived in Madagascar grew its teeth two to 13 times faster than the rates estimated in other carnivorous dinosaurs.

Probably gnawed bones

A team of researchers from the US claimed that this species of dinosaurs were wearing down teeth very fast and speculated that the prehistoric animals gnawed bones. The team which also included scientists from Adelphi University in the US used a collection of isolated fossil teeth to examine the microscopic growth lines in teeth of the dinosaurs. They found growth lines similar to tree rings. However, an intriguing discovery was made — instead of being deposited once a year, they were deposited daily. The scientists also conducted a  computerised tomography (CT), an X-ray based scan, on the intact jaws to visualise the unerupted teeth deep inside the bones of the species helping them in estimating the tooth-replacement rates in a large number of individual jaws. 

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The study’s co-author,  Michael D. D'Emic from Adelphi University, said that there is independent evidence for this in the form of scratches and gouges that match the spacing and size of their teeth on a variety of bones - bones from animals that would have been their prey. He further said that the dinosaur probably gnawed on bones to ingest certain nutrients, a behaviour that is observed in modern-day rodents. The swift growth of teeth puts the Majungasaurus in the same category as sharks and big, herbivorous dinosaurs.  The Majungasaurus did not have the exceptionally strong teeth required to gnaw on bones. D'Emic added that it was there working hypothesis for why they had such elevated rates of replacement.

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