Triceratops Fossil Tooth

Triceratops Fossil Tooth on Display in a Museum

Some dinosaur fossils might be regarded as spectacular, the enormous casts of sauropod skeletons or perhaps a Tyrannosaurus rex articulated mount. However, it is often the smaller specimens that provide palaeontologists with a wealth of data. For example, whilst walking through a museum after a meeting, an Everything Dinosaur team member spotted a Triceratops fossil tooth on display.

Fossil teeth provide palaeontologists with an understanding of the animal’s diet. Wear patterns can indicate the method of feeding and in some animals such as elephants for example, detailed analysis of the teeth can not only provide information on diet, but the age of the proboscidean can also be determined.

If the internal structure of the tusk of a Woolly Mammoth is examined, then seasonal variations in growth can be determined and even times when the prehistoric elephant suffered from poor health.

Triceratops Fossil Tooth

A single tooth from a ceratopsian can change perspectives and lead to a revision of our understanding of the Dinosauria. In 2017, Everything Dinosaur team members wrote an article about a scientific paper that confirmed the discovery of a single tooth from a horned dinosaur. This fossil tooth demonstrated that ceratopsids existed in eastern America (Appalachia). This was the first recorded evidence of this group of ornithischian dinosaurs on that part of the American Cretaceous land mass.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s article: Ceratopsid Tooth Paper Published (Part 1).

Sometimes it can be the smallest fossils that provide the greatest amount of information. Palaeontologists still have a lot to learn about the Dinosauria, even a famous dinosaur such at Triceratops horridus probably hides a few secrets still.