Toothy Grins
Shark
Fun Fact: As if they weren't terrifying enough on their own, sharks can have up to 3,000 teeth at one time. These predators make use of their vicious bite to grab and kill their food. They gnaw on whatever they catch and rip it into bite-size chunks. Fun visual, right? Sharks are also constantly losing their teeth. They replace them in a conveyor belt-like manner, with teeth shifting forward in their mouth as other ones fall out.
Polar Bear
Fun Fact: Polar bears have about 42 teeth in their mouth, and their bite is twice as strong as a brown bear's. Unsurprisingly, polar bears use their massive teeth to hunt and eat their prey. Their incisors shear off pieces of blubber and their canine teeth tear hides. They swallow their food in large chunks once their teeth have done their job.
Lion
Fun fact: A lion's jaws are essential for taking down prey. When a lion attacks a wildebeest or buffalo, it clamps its jaws down on its victim's throat, crushing the trachea. Once the prey is dead from suffocation, the pride feasts.
Baboon
Fun fact: Baboons aren't natural carnivores, so those huge teeth don't help the apes hunt and eat meat, as you might have suspected. That doesn't mean they're not dangerous, though. Baboon males use their teeth to fight each other in vicious competition for baboon females.
Elephant
Unfun fact: For hundreds of years, elephants have been hunted and killed for their tusks, which are enlarged incisor teeth made of ivory. The practice continues today. Despite a dip in elephant poaching due to international efforts in the early 1990s, the barbaric practice has experienced an alarming surge in recent years.
Jaguar
Fun Fact: Jaguars pack a mighty punch with their bite. Most large cat species grab their prey by the throat and suffocate it. Jaguars use a different approach. They pierce the prey's skull or neck with one bite, immediately killing it with the impact of their bite. It's believed that their ferocious bite can be twice as strong as a lion's!
