Fossil Teeth: The most common fossil teeth found are shark teeth although mammoth teeth, mastodon teeth, horse teeth, bison teeth, primate teeth, and the teeth of skates, rays, sharks, whales and dolphins are also sought after. In general, the larger teeth are more valuable although value is also based on whether the fossil teeth are rare. For example, mastodon teeth are smaller than mammoth teeth but are more valuable due to the rarity of the fossil teeth.
Types of Fossil Teeth: Fossil teeth found take many different forms. Many animals, including mammoths, sharks and reptiles go through quite a few sets of teeth during their lifetime, making it easier to find more fossil teeth.
· Mammoth teeth fossils: Mammoth teeth are often found after being tossed around by the ocean for many years, so their appearance may be rounded. Mammoth teeth from the Pleistocene can be found in the North Sea, Alaska and Russia among other places.
· Mastodon teeth fossils: Mastodon teeth are most commonly found from the Shovel-Tusker Mastodon, since it is harder to find those fossil teeth from the American Mastodon. Both the Shovel-Tusker Mastodon and the American Mastodon are a part of an extinct group of proboscidians with cusped molar teeth.
· Fossil Shark teeth: Shark teeth are the most commonly found fossil teeth. The teeth of a shark are the only part of its body that is easy to fossilize because they are made out of bone while the rest is made out of cartilage. Small shark teeth are extremely common on some East Coast beaches but larger fossilized shark teeth are harder to find. The Megalodon shark, also known as Carcharodon megalodon, was over 40 feet long and is now extinct. Fossil teeth from this shark are valuable and are about 3 times as big as the teeth from a great white shark.
· Fossil alligator teeth: Alligator teeth are commonly found in Florida. These fossil teeth are very important to the study of terrestrial vertebrates in North America.
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| Fossil Shark Tooth |
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Mastodon Molar |
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Mammoth Molar |
