>> Teeth come in all shapes and
sizes, and to paleontologists,
they offer a unique way
to study the distant past.
>> They don't decompose.
Skin decomposes.
Organs and brains,
soft tissues decompose.
Teeth, they're the
hardest parts of animals.
Because of that, they
tend to be preserved
in the fossil record more
than almost any piece
of an animal's body.
So when we look at the
fossil record of mammals,
it's almost exclusively
[inaudible] certain time periods
a fossil record of teeth.
>> And we can tell
a lot from teeth.
>> One the great anatomists
of all time was Baron
George Cuvier,
who lived in Paris
in the mid-1800's.
Who was remarkably
important, remarkably smart,
and remarkably arrogant.
He had a boast, and his
boast was show me the tooth
of any animal, and I can
reconstruct its entire skeleton.
Turns out Cuvier was
pretty much right.
Now here's a tooth.
Here's a huge tooth.
Clearly came from a big animal.
Flat surface on top.
That animal clearly
chews plant material.
What is a big animal
that eat plants?
An elephant.
Here's another one.
Large canines.
Big scissor-like
teeth in the back.
This creature clearly, you
know, is built to eat meat.
This is a lion.
So teeth contain so many answers
to the basic biology
of creatures.
>> You see, if you found a
good set of fossilized teeth,
you know something
about what creature ate.
That can yield clues to the
habitat they lived in as well
as some of their behaviors.
The size and shape of teeth
also tell you about jaws, skull,
and even body size, adding
to the amazingly detailed
picture you can paint
from just one tooth.
