this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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Science

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Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth, scientists find | Reptiles | The Guardian (amp.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 months ago by Mothra@mander.xyz to c/science@mander.xyz
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Pretty interesting find. (Not completely sure if this is the right community for this- let me know if you know where else it would be a good fit!)

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[โ€“] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Had to look this up yesterday as I had thought the same. In rodents anyway, the orange color is from amino acids, not the iron in their teeth.

[โ€“] snooggums@midwest.social 2 points 3 months ago

Where did you find a source that it was from amino acids?

This one says the orange is from the iron

Wikipedia's citationed summary confirms it is orange due to the the iron

They have four chisel-shaped incisors that continue to grow throughout their lives. The incisors are covered in a thick enamel that is colored orange or reddish-brown by iron compounds.