Page 8 - Tooth by Tooth: Comparing Fangs, Tusks, and Chompers

GLOSSARY

canine tooth: a pointed tooth in a mammal’s mouth. These teeth are also
sometimes called eyeteeth or fangs.

carnivore: an animal that eats only meat

fang: a long, pointed tooth

herbivore: an animal that eats only plants

incisor: a flat tooth in the front of a mammal’s mouth

mammal: a vertebrate that has hair or fur, makes milk for its babies, has three
middle ear bones, and usually has differently shaped teeth in its mouth

milk teeth: a temporary set of smaller teeth found in most mammals. They
fall out, and then the adult teeth come in. Milk teeth are also known as baby teeth
or deciduous teeth.

molar: a wide tooth with ridges in the back of a mammal’s mouth

omnivore: an animal that eats both plants and meat

predator: an animal that hunts and eats other animals

prey: an animal hunted by another animal for food

tooth: a small, hard, whitish structure found in the mouth of many vertebrates
used for chewing food and sometimes for other purposes too

tusk: a very long mammal tooth that sticks out of the mouth

vegetarian: a human who chooses to eat
only plants. Since vegetarians are humans, they are
also omnivores because they still have teeth that
are shaped to eat both plants and meat.

vertebrate: an animal with bones. Animals
that have bones include fish, amphibians, reptiles,
mammals, and birds.