Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• By: Bruce D. Patterson, Ellis J. Nieburger, and Samuel M. Kasiki

• Summarizes by: Goua Vang

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• Study

•Why?

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• Specific question?

• Man-eater are frequently through to be old or infirm, apparently incapable of normal predatory

behavior

• Famous tiger hunter Jim Corbett repeatedly found that notorious man-eating tigers had

broken teeth or claws, crippling arthritis, prior gunshot wounds

• Is this true?

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts• Specific approaches

• Examined the holding of skulls of Lions with permanent dentitions in 3 international study

collections

• These represented free-living lions without recorded misdemeanors against human

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• Specific approaches

• Compare free lions skulls with lions skulls in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya that were killed outside the park

by rangers (control man-eater)

• Distinguished teeth broken before and after death by assessing tooth wear

• Age by tooth wear

• Record tooth: fractures that became subsequently worn, breakage and wears on all 30 teeth

• 153 specimens

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• Results

• 63 of 153 lions had damaged dentitions (form of worn and broken teeth which exposes the

pulp cavity of the tooth to infection and decay)

• How much influence does it play in killing large prey?

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

a) Incisors and canines with pulp exposuresb) Broken incisors and right canine with pulp

exposuresc) Broken incisor and canine with pulp

exposured) Broken left 4 premolar with alveolar

erosione) Broken left 2 premolar with alveolar

erosion f) Broken left 4 premolar with alveolar

erosion g) Right 4 premolar with pulp exposures

from wearh) Left 4 premolar with pulp exposures and

alveolar erosion

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• Conclusion

• 40% of the lions examined had broken teeth

• The problem lion sample TENP, Kenya should have the most

• Any phenomenon as complex as man eater seldom has a single cause

Tooth Breakage And Dental Disease As Causes Of Carnivore-Human Conflicts

• Questions remained unanswered

• Habitat

• Low availability of natural preys

• Population