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Scientists find that Komodo Dragons have iron-tipped teeth for tearing at prey
Scientists have been left dumbfounded by the realization that Komodo Dragons have iron-tipped serrated teeth for ripping at their prey, and it could tell us a lot about how dinosaurs devoured their food.
We humans are far too used to puppy blues and adorable kitten videos that we sometimes forget the world is full of terrifying creatures. We’ve got big cats mauling people, and orcas attacking boats, and that’s to say nothing of the crimes dolphins regularly commit.
Komodo dragons are the largest living species of monitor lizard
Hailing from Indonesia and averaging a staggering 80kg, Komodo Dragons are the modern-day equivalent of the dinosaurs that stalked the Earth millions of years ago.
Their hunger is well documented, and while scientists have long understood the power of their bite, a team from Kings College London only recently discovered the most horrifying aspect of the predator’s mouth. Their findings were published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on Wednesday.
Though most lizards have iron in their teeth, researchers found that Komodo Dragons had concentrated the metal along the cutting edge and tips of their teeth. In turn, this stains their teeth orange.
To better understand the teeth, scientists analyzed the skull of Ganas, a 15-year-old Dragon who had lived at ZSL conservation zoo until his death.
Imaging and chemical analysis quickly showed that the iron had been concentrated along the tips and serrated edge, seemingly to keep the Komodo Dragon action-ready at all times.
The new research sheds light on the lives of dinosaurs
It’s well known that birds are the closest living descendants of dinosaurs, while crocodilians are their closest living relatives. Despite the Komodo Dragon being neither, its choice of prey draws an interesting link between them and dinosaurs.
Unfortunately, using the technology we have at the moment, we cant see whether fossilized dinosaur teeth had high levels of iron or not. We think that the chemical changes which take place during the fossilization process obscure how much iron was present to start with,” Dr. Aaron LeBlanc, lecturer in Dental Biosciences at Kings College London, said.
What we did find, though, was that larger meat-eating dinosaurs, like tyrannosaurs, did change the structure of the enamel itself on the cutting edges of their teeth. So, while Komodo dragons have altered the chemistry of their teeth, some dinosaurs altered the structure of their dental enamel to maintain a sharp cutting edge.”
Scientists are now required to do further analysis in the hopes of uncovering whether dinosaurs also had iron-coated teeth.
