Chapter 4: Teeth everywhere

This chapter was intriguing because, although I know my teeth are important, I did not know that teeth were that important. The significance that they carry about not only eating habits but also evolution intrigued me to the point of me wanting to be a dentist when I do not have any interest in that field. The hardest part of the body fossilizes and is kept record in the fossil record which exemplifies how this tooth is a combination of a reptile and a mammal, how this tooth ate a bigger organism than itself, how this tooth is a bridge between this creature and that and how this tooth can prove OUR story,etc.
When Shubin described his first experiences as a paleontologist on the field, I could grasp the ordeal he had to go through because finding fossils on rocks is like finding a needle in a haystack, but when looking in the right place with the right eye, anything is possible. I guess this is what distinguishes a paleontologist with almost anybody for they look at the most minute detail that even the most meticulous people overlook. I respect Shubin with the perseverance and curiosity he has shown in this chapter.
I also like the way,at the end of the chapter, Shubin summarized the evidence gathered in the past chapters: 1. how to make predictions 2. how to trace similar blueprints of bones to find ancestral history 3. how DNA is similar and almost the same in every "handy" species.
"If all we had to compare these fossils to were living reptiles, then the origin of mammalian feeding would appear to be a big mystery,"(72).Teeth are prevalantly taken for granted which were underestimated until now.