# toothless mammal with keratin scales

The World’s Most Trafficked Animal Has Scales » Pangolins are remarkably easy to steal, and their body parts are turning up by the ton in ports all over Asia. Bloomberg.com

Loss of teeth and enamel in tetrapods: fossil record, genetic data and morphological adaptations » Since their recruitment in the oral cavity, approximately 450 million years ago, teeth have been subjected to strong selective constraints due to the crucial role that they play in species survival. It is therefore quite surprising that the ability to… Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The coevolution of rostral keratin and tooth distribution in dinosaurs | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences » Teeth evolved early in vertebrate evolution, and their morphology reflects important specializations in diet and ecology among species. The toothless jaws (edentulism) in extant birds likely coevolved with beak keratin, which functionally replaced teeth.… Royalsocietypublishing.org