One tooth shape cannot both pierce, shear, and crush bone.
Evidence
Teeth face trade-offs in shape as well as size. One tooth cannot excel at all tasks. Long and slender teeth such as canines are very effective at piercing skin, muscle, or viscera, but these same teeth can snap if they strike bone. Sturdy, bladed teeth, especially if they line up precisely with other sharp and bladed teeth on the opposite jaw, are great for shearing through muscle and sinew. But these blades fracture if they are used to crush or grind bone, and even accidental contact with bone can dull the blades, rendering the teeth useless at their primary function. Alternatively, wide, solid, dome-shaped teeth are great for cracking bone to reach the nutritious marrow, but they are useless at slicing, piercing, or puncturing. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 87
Related
- Differentiated teeth only work with careful, deliberate chewing. (similarity 0.83)
- One in four carnivore teeth is chipped, cracked, or shattered. (similarity 0.82)
- Mammals diversified teeth into separate tools to bypass trade-offs. (similarity 0.82)
- Mammals split teeth into specialized tools for each task (similarity 0.81)
- Jaw shape trades off between bite force and bite speed (similarity 0.80)
- A quarter of carnivore teeth are chipped or cracked (similarity 0.80)