Tough Times at La Brea: Tooth Breakage in Large Carnivores of the Late Pleistocene

This influential study quantified broken teeth among large carnivores from the Rancho La Brea asphalt deposits, including Smilodon fatalis, dire wolves, American lions, and coyotes. Tooth breakage rates in the Pleistocene fossils were roughly three times higher than in modern equivalents. Because teeth fracture most often during bone contact and competitive feeding, elevated breakage indicates that prey carcasses were being consumed more completely, with more bone processing and stronger competition. The authors interpreted this as evidence that late Pleistocene carnivore guilds faced intense food stress, possibly foreshadowing the extinctions to come. The paper became a cornerstone for using dental wear and damage as a proxy for past carnivore ecology and resource availability.