A team of researchers from the University of Bristol have shed light on the life of the ancient reptile Rhynchosaur, which walked the earth between 250-225 million years ago, before being replaced by the dinosaurs.
Rhynchosaurs are a little-understood group of roughly sheep-sized ancient reptiles that thrived during the Triassic Period, a time of generally warm climates and tough vegetation.
"I first studied the rhynchosaurs years ago," said team-leader Professor Mike Benton from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences,"and I was amazed to find that in many cases they dominated their ecosystems. If you found one fossil, you found hundreds. They were the sheep or antelopes of their day, and yet they had specialized dental systems that were apparently adapted for dealing with masses of tough plant food.
3D model of the skull of Bentonyx from CT scans, showing the teeth of the upper and lower jaws rooted deeply in the bone. Credit: Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul "Eventually, though, after a certain age—we're not sure quite how many years—their growth slowed down and the area of wear was fixed and just got deeper and deeper," added Dr. Coram."It's like elephants today—they have a fixed number of teeth that come into use from the back, and after the age of seventy or so they're on their last tooth, and then that's that."
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