Education – A Houston Zoo Blog

So what happens when the bear has a toothache?  Or the tiger needs to get her teeth cleaned?  We call in the dentist of course.  That’s right, a zoo dentist.  These brave souls work with our vet staff to make sure that our animals have top-quality teeth. 

In the wild, many animals can starve to death when they lose their teeth or they are unable to chew due to tooth or gum damage.  Here at the zoo, we can avoid these situations by making sure that our animals get the care they need as soon as they need it.  We may be alerted to any mouth problems by an animal that won’t eat or seems to be more irritable than usual, which could mean that he or she is in pain. 

Bailey the Grizzly Bear

Here are some fun animal teeth facts to ‘brush up’ on:

• Elephants only have four teeth at one time.  They have two on the top and two on the bottom.  Throughout their life they go through 6 sets of teeth (that’s 24 total), and when all of their teeth fall out they can starve to death.  Both male and female African elephants have tusks (modified teeth), while only male Asian elephants have long tusks.  Female Asian elephants have shorter, tusk-like teeth called tushes. 
• The clouded leopard has the longest canine teeth of any cat species, in proportion to the rest of its body.
• Some whales, including the blue whale, don’t have teeth but instead something called baleen.  Baleen is made up of keratin (just like hair and nails) and acts as a filter. It looks like a fine toothed comb and allows the whale to take in water (along with fish) and then filter out the water.
• Birds don’t have any teeth, so how do they chew?  Many birds have beaks designed for cutting and tearing so they are able to tear off small pieces (like meat) and swallow them.  Others use their mouth for grinding or mashing which makes their food (such as seeds, fruit, or plants) easier to swallow also.  What happens after that?  Lots of birds utilize stones in their stomach to assist with digestion and breaking up larger pieces of food.
• Rodents, (such as mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, and chipmunks), have front incisors that continually grow throughout their life.  That’s why they’re always gnawing on things; this helps to wear those teeth down so they don’t get too long. 
• Sharks are considered polyphyodont, which means that they grown new teeth every few weeks.  This replaces any worn out or lost teeth.  All the better to eat small animals with! 

So get to flossing and polishing your own pearly whites!