From: John C. Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 06:37:09 -0700 (PDT)
To: Jessica Morton
Subject: Re: bird teeth

Please give Cory my apologies for being so late in replying. The answer is no, no birds have teeth these days. Millions of years ago, when birds were still in the process of changing from dinosaurs, there were bird-like creatures that had teeth, but the most recent such fossils we have been able to discover are almost 90 million years old. Since then, as far as we can tell, all birds have been toothless.

Which raises an interesting question: how do birds chew their food? A beak is good for giving food a good mashing, but it's not like having real choppers. To do serious grinding of their food, birds have a really nifty trick. Do you know what it is?

Hint: If any of you have pet birds, you probably know that you have to give the bird "grit" - little tiny bits of sand or gravel - to eat. Figure out what happens to the grit, and you'll know why birds don't need teeth!

P.S. I believe I've read that when baby birds first hatch from their eggs they have a little bump on the end of their beak. It's called an "egg tooth," and they use it to peck their way out of the egg, but it drops off soon afterward.

Thank you for your great question! And I'm sorry again that it took me so long to answer it.

John C.

On Thu, 30 Mar 1995, Jessica Morton wrote:
> Dear Mr. C.
> Cory wants to know if birds have teeth?
> Thank you.
> From Cory