A Wonderleaf question
Why do sharks have so many teeth?
a real page from the book
Sharks have so many teeth because their meals are rough on them. They use teeth to seize prey and slice pieces away, not to chew slowly, and those teeth can loosen or break. Backup teeth keep growing and shift into place, so the shark can keep hunting with fresh cutters.
A shark’s mouth is a moving supply shelf. Several rows wait behind the biting edge, and a lost tooth may be replaced very quickly. Over a long life, one shark can make thousands of teeth, each one shaped for its kind of food.
Wonder words
- serrated
- prey
- jaw
- replacement
Try it out
At dinner, compare a fork, spoon, and butter knife, then guess which shark foods each tooth shape would handle best.
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