Additionally, what are pros & cons of beaks as opposed to teeth?
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Difference in food, and difference in mouth parts. Teeth are good for cutting and grinding, which is good for grinding plants, and turning meat into something that we won’t choke on.
Birds have a beak, which is basically like two large teeth but work slightly differently. Birds eat mainly bugs, and can swallow most of their food whole. Most birds that can’t swallow something whole only need their beak to crush a shell. The birds that do eat meat have slightly different beaks that allow them to tear off large chunks, but still don’t need teeth because they can swallow those large chunks whole.
Insects have mandibles and pincers which also serve a similar purpose to beaks and teeth. Usually insects focus less on chewing food, and more on only biting off pieces that are small enough that they can swallow in the first place, though some do use their mouth parts to grind things down to a smaller size similar to teeth.
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