Chapter 4: Teeth Everywhere

Who knew a little tooth could tell so much. In this chapter, Shubin talks about how teeth reflect who we are and how they resemble our diets. For mammals, we can only replace our teeth once a year. Reptiles, fortunately, replace their teeth continually when they break down. A simple tooth can be used to trace fossil records all the way to the start. Teeth have to be tougher than the food they chew. Without teeth, it would be extremely hard for animals to chew and survive.

After talking about the role of teeth, Shubin talks about how he struggled with finding fossils, but he finally became amazed with what he realized he was looking at. He describes the experience of the desert floor as it was "exploded with bones." He had come up with three ways in order to find fossils: find the most productive-looking rock, don't follow anybody else's footsteps, and don't go to an area if somebody else is on it. It was a first come first serve bases. Luckily for Shubin, his friend Paul gave him some pointers and together, along with others, they visited Parrsboro where they searched for fossils. It was the first expedition Shubin led where he found bones along the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. What I find extremely ironic is Shubin not knowing what others knew about one of the rocks he discovered. It had been part mammal, part reptile. This fossil, tritheledont, was known in South Africa.

Later on in the chapter, Shubin talked about how the discovery of conodots came about. It was unknown as to what they were. Thy were the teeth to an ancient jawless fish. It's weird how they are soft animals, yet contain hard teeth. Is that even possible? This chapter was really eye catching. Shubin is right when he says "one of the joys of being a scientist is that the natural world has the power to amaze and surprise". It surely does Shubin!

-Mitasha Sujan