No teeth? No problem: Dinosaur species had teeth as babies, lost them as they grew Discovery may explain why birds are toothless As Limusaurus grew from adolescent to adult, it lost its teeth and did not grow a new set. Credit: George Washington University Researchers have discovered that a species of dinosaur, Limusaurus inextricabilis , lost its teeth in adolescence and did not grow another set as adults. The finding, published today in Current Biology , is a radical change in anatomy during a lifespan and may help to explain why birds have beaks but no teeth. The research team studied 19 Limusaurus skeletons, discovered in "death traps," where they became mired in mud, got stuck and died, in the Xinjiang Province of China. The dinosaurs ranged in age from baby to adult, showing the pattern of tooth loss over time. The baby skeleton had small, sharp teeth, and the adult skeletons were consistently toothless. "This discovery is impor...
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