Fossil teeth are among the most common fossils found due to their hard structure and the frequency they are lost during growth, feeding and fighting.
Sauropods were huge herbivorous dinosaurs that lived between 200 and 66 million years ago; appearing first in the early Jurassic and becoming extinct in the Cretaceous period. Sauropods were gigantic animals that include some of the largest land vertebrates to have ever lived. Species like Argentinosaurus and Mamenchisaurus grew over 30m long and are estimated to have weighed upwards of 80 tons, ten times greater than modern days largest land animal; the elephant.
Their large size extends to all aspects of their body making fossil bones and even bone fragments particularly large and heavy; therefore the most commonly collected fossils from these animals is their teeth. They were also replaced incredibly regularly due to the frequency they were lost during feeding, some species are believed to have replaced each tooth every 14 days on average. Their long peg like teeth are used for stripping vegetation which is then swallowed whole as they lack chewing molars.
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