Cretaceous Triceratops Tooth | Montana

Carbon County, Montana, U.S.A. 

Upper Cretaceous 

66 Million Years Ago 

Specimen size: approximately 1cm 

Triceratops tooth comes with an information card describing what a "spitter" tooth is.

This is what's called a "spitter", a triceratops tooth that has been completely worn down due to feeding activity and discarded. The triceratops' jaws came together to form a sharp curved beak. This feature was built not for biting, but for grasping and pulling at plants. Behind this beak sat the dinosaur's teeth, which were arranged in a tight structure called a dental battery. These batteries consisted of columns of teeth that would grow and erupt, replacing the worn and broken teeth at the top of the stack. While this was a somewhat common adaptation for herbivorous dinosaurs, the triceratops' teeth were nestled inside one another, meaning their teeth were constantly being replaced.