Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From three-inch fang blennies to thirty-foot prehistoric crocodiles, from gaboon vipers to Neanderthals, Bite is a fascinating journey through the natural, scientific, and cultural history of something right in front of--or in--our faces: teeth.
In Bite , zoologist Bill Schutt makes a surprising case: it is teeth that are responsible for the long-term success of vertebrates. The appearance of teeth, roughly half a billion years ago, was an adaptation that allowed animals with backbones, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, dinosaurs and mammals--including us--to chow down in pretty much every conceivable environment.
And it's not just food. Tusks and fangs have played crucial roles as defensive weapons--glimpsing the upper canines of snarling dogs is all it takes to know that teeth are an efficient means of aggression. Vampire bats use their razor-sharp teeth to obtain a widespread but generally untappable resource: blood. Early humans employed their teeth as tools to soften tough fibers and animal hides. Our teeth project information and social status--the ancient Etruscans were the first to wear tooth bling, and it's doubtful that George Washington would have been elected president without the false teeth he wore.
So much of what we know about life on this planet has come from the study of fossilized teeth, which have provided information not only about evolution but also about famine, war, and disease. In his signature witty style, the author of Pump and Cannibalism shows us how our continued understanding of teeth may help us humans through current and future crises, from Alzheimer's disease to mental health issues. Bite is popular science at its best and will appeal to readers of Mary Roach, Merlin Sheldrake, and Ed Yong.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
Teeth have played an underappreciated role in vertebrate evolution, argues zoologist Schutt (Cannibalism) in this animated study. Exploring the various forms and uses of animal teeth, he explains that narwhal tusks are actually "modified upper canines" capable of detecting changes in salinity and describes how they're used for "jousting," in which males cross tusks in competition for mates. Many animals' teeth evolved to enable particular diets, Schutt notes, discussing how prehistoric horses developed high-crowned teeth so they could handle the wear-and-tear from corrosive compounds in grass, and how vampire bats developed incisors sharp enough to draw blood undetected by their prey. Though the balance of the book focuses on cobras, lionfish, shrews, and other animals, Schutt also examines the role of teeth in human history, covering the ancient Etruscan practice of wearing metal grills to signify status, George Washington's dental woes, and the tooth fairy's origins in a 1908 housekeeping column. Schutt's tone is dryly funny (after noting 18th-century French surgeon Pierre Fauchard's recommendation that "his patients use their own urine as mouthwash," Schutt remarks, "shockingly, many people stuck to alternatives like toothpicks"), and his conversational prose reads as if an erudite friend were explaining their life's passion over drinks. Pop science aficionados will want to sink their teeth into this. Agent: Gillian MacKenzie, Gillian MacKenzie Agency. (Aug.)
Booklist Review
Zoologist Schutt (Pump: A Natural History of the Heart, 2021) enthusiastically and wryly polishes the profile of dentition, including fangs and tusks. He examines the evolutionary origin of teeth, different types of teeth, and dental anatomy. Besides procuring and processing food, teeth can alter the environment, serve as defensive armaments, and play a role in mating behavior. Schutt studies the teeth of sharks, vampire bats, tiny shrews, humans, elephants, and snakes. Spinner dolphins lead all mammals with as many as 260 teeth, but one species of fish possesses about 550. Toothless critters include seahorses, modern birds, turtles, anteaters, and baleen whales. Contemplate that a king cobra can inject 1.5 teaspoons of neurotoxic venom into its victims with a single bite or that walruses use their tusks to help pull their big bodies from water to sea ice. Schutt reports on microbes inhabiting the human mouth, jaw muscles and bite forces, fluoridation of drinking water, dentistry in ancient times (not for the faint of heart), and George Washington's multiple sets of dentures. Plenty of interesting material for readers to sink their teeth into.
Kirkus Book Review
A delightful examination of teeth throughout history. Vertebrate zoologist Schutt, a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and the author of Pump and Cannibalism, teams with illustrator Wynne to create a lively, deeply informed investigation of the origin, development, and significance of teeth. "The appearance of teeth, around five hundred million years ago, and the serious remodeling that occurred after that enabled myriad forms of vertebrates to obtain and process food in pretty much every conceivable environment," writes the author, as well as use them as defensive weapons and tools. Drawing on the findings of archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, dentists, and scores of other researchers, Schutt highlights the teeth of many particular species. Adaptations of vampire bat teeth strike him as particularly spectacular, since bats need a bite strong enough to draw blood (which they lap up) but not painful enough to cause their prey to flee. The evolution of high-crowned teeth that continue to grow over an animal's life span enabled horses to survive as soft-leaved forests changed to abrasive grasslands. Tusks are teeth used not for chewing, but as digging or scraping tools and, in some species, for visual display. Schutt considers the fangs of a variety of venomous snakes and venomous fish. Of these, the stonefish is the most lethal, administering its venom not through a bite, but by 13 "stiff, supersharp dorsal spines." The author patiently explains what evolution means, with close attention to the initial appearance of jaws, whose function "was not to grasp and bite but to increase the efficiency of respiration by opening and closing the mouth." Schutt's purview is wide ranging and his curiosity insatiable; he wonders, for example, Why have toothless vertebrates evolved from ancestors with teeth? Were George Washington's dentures really wooden? How have we come to have a tooth fairy? A fascinating romp through evolutionary history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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