24
Apr
A notable difference between carnivores and herbivores is jaw structure. There are many more differences, but that’s a topic for another post.
The top image is of a rabbit skull. An herbivore’s jaws create a far more pronounced square, such that the animal can lift it’s jaw up and down. This causes all the teeth (or at least the grinding teeth) to come in contact at once, like a nut-cracker.
The bottom image is of a wolf skull (technically it is a fossil replica of a dire wolf skull). A carnivore’s jaws are angled in such a way as to create a shape similar to a pair of scissors. When a wolf—or even a house cat—closes its jaws, the molars will meet first, creating a slicing action to cut and tear flesh.
As omnivores, we humans have a jaw angle somewhere in between the two.
