The Evolution of Teeth
In Our Time
BBC
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2019
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss theories about the origins of teeth in vertebrates, and what we can learn from sharks in particular and their ancestors. Great white sharks can produce up to 100,000 teeth in their lifetimes. For humans, it is closer to a mere 50 and most of those have to last from childhood. Looking back half a billion years, though, the ancestors of sharks and humans had no teeth in their mouths at all, nor jaws. They were armoured fish, sucking in their food. The theory is that either their tooth-like scales began to appear in mouths as teeth, or some of their taste buds became harder. If we knew more about that, and why sharks can regenerate their teeth, then we might learn how humans could grow new teeth in later lives.
With
Gareth Fraser Assistant Professor in Biology at the University of Florida
Zerina Johanson Merit Researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum
and
Philip Donoghue Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Transcript
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| 0:12.8 | at BBC In Our Time. |
| 0:14.7 | I hope you enjoyed the programs. |
| 0:16.8 | Hello, great white sharks can produce about 100,000 new teeth |
| 0:20.3 | throughout their lifetime. |
| 0:21.6 | For humans, it's closer to a mere 50, |
| 0:24.0 | and most of those have their last from childhood. |
| 0:26.9 | Looking back half a billion years, though, |
| 0:28.6 | the ancestors of sharks and humans had no teeth in their mouths at all. |
| 0:32.6 | Nor jaws. |
| 0:33.8 | There were almond fish sucking in their food. |
| 0:36.6 | At some point, either their almond scales |
| 0:39.1 | seeded teeth or their taste buds did. |
| 0:41.6 | And if we knew more about that, and why sharks can regenerate their teeth, |
| 0:45.5 | then we might learn how to grow new teeth ourselves in our later lives. |
| 0:49.7 | With me to discuss the evolution of teeth, |
| 0:51.9 | I filled on a hue, Professor of Paleobiology at the University of Bristol. |
| 0:56.7 | Zareena Johansson, Merit researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences |
| 1:00.8 | at the Natural History Museum, and Garath Praiser, Assistant Professor in Biology |
... |
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