The teeth of an animal can be interesting or frightening to humans. Although it seems incredible, they are not only used to chew food, some living beings use them to communicate. Can you also imagine that there is a being with thousands of teeth? Terrifying or fascinating?
There is no doubt that the animal world still holds many surprises for us, do you dare to discover them all? If you want to know which is the animal with the most teeth in the world, then you can't miss this article.from our site Keep reading!
Which animal has the most teeth?
Animals are adapted, thanks to millions of years of evolution, to live in the ecosystem in which they develop, making the best possible use of the characteristics of their species. When you think of the animal with the largest number of teeth on the planet, what do you imagine? Is it a dreaded shark or a whale?
The truth is that there are two animals that compete for first place as animals with the most teeth, and the size of both is considerably smaller than that of the impressive species that can frighten us with their jaws.
Catfish teeth
In first place is the catfish (of the order Siluriformes), with an impressive number of9,280 teeth , can you imagine what they do with teeth like this? There are more than 3,000 species of catfish, each with its own characteristics. Apart from this very peculiar attribute, some are capable of emitting small electric shocks
Although not very large, the catfish uses all of these teeth. They are tiny, and they accumulate in his mouth one row after another, until reaching more than nine thousand pieces. With them, it feeds on other fish, small tadpoles and small animals. In general, it prefers to look for its prey at the bottom of the rivers, among the pebbles.
The "teeth" of the snail
However, there is another animal that disputes this position to the catfish, it is the snail. A snail, with teeth? It's probably something you've never heard of. How many teeth does a snail have? Well, the snail is a gastropod mollusc, it does not have "teeth" in the strict sense of the word, as we usually know them, for which there are detractors to the time to affirm that it is the animal with the most teeth.
However, the snail's mouth hides the radula, a cavity that hides denticles, small structures used to extract food from rocks and earth. The snail reaches the surprising number of possessing almost 25,000 denticles
And you, which of these two do you think has more teeth?
What is the mammalian animal with the most teeth?
When we talk about mammals and land animals with more teeth, for the most part these figures decrease considerably. The needs of mammals are different, their entire organism, including their teeth, is adapted to these needs.
For the most part, mammals share toothy similarities with humans. In other words, their teeth usually include by canines, incisors, premolars and molars, although of course it will depend on whether the animal in question is herbivorous or carnivorous: it is not used the same tooth to gnaw on berries, leaves and roots, as it is to tear flesh and break bones.
In this sense, the mammal that takes the title of having the most teeth is the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), also called big gurre and cachicamo. It has only 100 teeth, a humble hundred next to the thousands that boast the most numerous dentures in the world. This armadillo lives in South America and is in danger of extinction, mainly due to indiscriminate hunting and the collection of stuffed specimens.
Which animal has the biggest teeth?
Now it's the turn of the animal with the biggest teeth in the world, can you imagine which ones? This position goes to the elephant, with its two enormous tusks, proportional to its large size. They measure between 1 and 3 meters, weighing more than 100 kilos; what we see of them is only a portion of the total size of the tusk. The elephant uses them mostly for protection.
When it comes to size, it also ranks the narwhal (Monodon monoceros). Its tusk, although longer than that of the elephant, since it measures almost 6 meters in length, weighs only 10 kilos, so it does not surpass the mighty pachyderm.
4 curiosities about animal teeth
These animals are not the only ones whose teeth are worth mentioning. The truth is that, taking a look at the fauna present on our planet Earth, we will find many curious details about these essential tools for food. We show you 4!
- Did you know that the giraffe has 35 teeth? That's right! Of all the animal kingdom, their teeth are the most similar to those of the human being, both in the number of pieces and in the shape, it is enough to look at a photograph of these long-necked mammals to realize.
- Did you know that dolphins don't chew with their teeth? Quite curious, they only use them to emit sound, because when feeding they prefer to swallow the food in one bite.
- Did you know that the great white shark can have 20,000 teeth in its lifetime? This terror of the seas has several rows of teeth, organized one after another, so that when you lose a piece it can be quickly replaced.
- Did you know that a rabbit's teeth never stop growing? These mammals need something to constantly gnaw on, that's the only way they wear down their teeth, that grow throughout their lives.
And if you've been wanting to know more about animals, then don't hesitate to visit our article on the 10 largest animals in the world or the 10 smallest animals on the planet. You will be surprised!
