Chapter 4 Teeth Everywhere

When Shubin started off the chapter discussing the function of teeth, I was curious to see how teeth held significance in the life of different organisms and how it would help explain how we originated from fish. I realized that teeth did in fact explain a lot about different species that have been discovered from our past. I found it interesting that Shubin was able to tell so much about the organism just by looking at its teeth, and how he saw the difference in teeth structure as he discovered fossils in higher rocks. Also, I was glad that Shubin related his experiences with readers about his fustration while looking for fossils of teeth, as well as his enthusiasm when he finally understood how to successfully find the fossils. When Shubin shared his discovery of the tritheledont, I could see that he was getting closer to what he was looking for, learning that these animals were a type of reptile that already displayed mammalian kind of chewing. Later, Shubin's descriptions of the Conodonts and the Ostracoderms were interesting because they showed the similarity of teeth structure between humans and fish. As the chapter reached its conclusion I realized that Shubin's findings in this chapter, as well as the three previous chapters, all showed how we are linked to the organs and bodies of other species, and that we are all just different variations of one theme.