What type of food is eaten by animals with carnassial teeth?
Carnassial position, the carnassial teeth benefit from most of the force generated by this mastication muscle, allowing for efficient shearing and cutting of flesh, tendon and muscle. The scissor-like motion is created by the movement between the carnassial pair when the jaw occludes. The inside of the fourth upper pre-molar closely passes by the outer surface of the first lower molar, thus allowing the sharp cusps of the carnassial teeth to slice through meat. The length and size of the carnassial teeth vary between species, taking into account factors such as: The fossil record indicates the presence of carnassial teeth 50
Carnassial that was similar in size to a large extant gray wolf but with a shorter, broader palate and with large carnassial teeth relative to its overall skull size. This adaptation allowed the megafaunal wolf to predate and scavenge on Pleistocene megafauna. Wear and cracking of the carnassial teeth in a wild carnivore (e.g. a wolf or lion) may result in the death of the individual due to starvation. Carnassial teeth infections are common in domestic dogs, and present as abscesses. Extraction of the tooth and antibiotics are necessary to ensure that no further complications occur. Carnassial Carnassials are paired upper