Search the Community

Was looking over my right lower mandible of a woolly mammoth jaw and noticed two sets of teeth. Most of the times, there were only four functional molar teeth at a time, two in the upper jaw and two in the lower. Did some research and discovered woolly mammoth teeth are much different than ours. When we lose our baby teeth, adult teeth come in at the same spot. This is not true for mammoths. Once a tooth is worn down from too much grinding, a new tooth grows behind it. The new tooth slowly moves forward and pushes the old one out. This leaves a fresh set of ridges for grinding food. They had six sets of molars throughout a lifetime. The replacement process continues on until the sixth tooth is in place. This happens when the mammoth is about 30 years old. The mammoth uses the sixth molar for the rest of its life. Once the sixth tooth is worn down, there are no more replacement teeth. Without teeth, the mammoth can no longer eat and soon starves. It is unique to find a jaw that has teeth in between two growth stages. Turns out that’s what I have! You can distinctly see a smaller second set in front of the larger one that is getting pushed forward. Wanted to share what I learned today.