Tiny Mammal Teeth Reveal Ancient Climates Of Tennessee And Beyond

From East Tennessee State University:

January 21, 2021

If you were planning a visit to Gray, Tennessee, five million years ago, you would want to dress like you were headed to Atlanta, Georgia, but pack rain gear like you would for Tampa, Florida. That’s according to an estimate of the ancient climate of the Gray Fossil Site, part of the results of a new study that uses fossil teeth to explore how climate has changed across North America over the past 37 million years.

It might not seem obvious at first, but teeth are related to climate. In any given place, the shapes of herbivore teeth depend on the local vegetation, and the type of vegetation depends on the local climate. This kind of study, measuring body parts to understand environmental conditions, is called ecometrics. But before the researchers could estimate past climates, they needed a lot of information on how teeth and climate are connected today.

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This press release was produced by East Tennessee State University. The views expressed are the author's own.