Oh bunjy please tell me, in your opinion, what is the best animal with specialized teeth? And what are it's teeth specialized for?
hm well there's too many of those to just pick an arbitrary best, but I do really like leopard seal teeth!
let's take a closer look-
okay so leopard seals are famous for making meals mostly of helpless penguins and sweet little seals of other species, but that's a bit of a misconception. they're actually a rare example of a multi-trophic animal that's specced into filter feeding on the side!
see these weird pronglike teeth that line the entire back of the leopard seal's mouth?
those aren't for meat. those are for krill.
leopard seals will filter-feed for these tiny shrimplike creatures similar to how whales do it- they take a big mouthful of shrimp-filled water, then force the water out through their back teeth, which act like sieves to prevent the shrimp from escaping!
except that leopard seals also can, do, and WILL eat penguins and smaller seals also.
so suck it, whales.
