Family Event - Shark Dentist

Researcher Visit - Shark Dentist

Step back in time to learn all about shark teeth with postdoctoral researcher Lisa Schnetz.

Sharks are apex predators in our modern-day oceans and play a vital role in keeping marine ecosystems healthy. They have several rows of teeth and can lose and replace thousands of teeth in their lifetimes. Our knowledge of the history of sharks would be much smaller if it wasn’t for these isolated teeth that can endure millions of years. Over the past 400 million years, teeth have been the most important clue to uncovering shark history, such as how they lived and what they ate. This talk will highlight some of the teeth from the Lapworth Museum collections and what they can tell us about the animals they belonged to, from the earliest sharks to ones in our oceans today.

About Lisa

Lisa studied Ecology with a focus on marine biology at the University of Vienna before moving to Birmingham for her PhD in the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Birmingham. During her MSc, she investigated the teeth and braincases of living lamniform sharks (the group which includes the Great White sharks and Mako sharks amongst others). For her PhD, she investigated completeness and diversity patterns of the most ancient of sharks, dating back to around 450 to 250 million years ago. Lisa recently joined Dr Ivan Sansom’s research group at the University of Birmingham as a research fellow to investigate how early jawless fish were able to feed without possessing jaws.

The talk will last around 20 minutes, followed by questions. Recommended for ages 8+. 

Tickets

This talk is free to attend but a ticket is required for each attendee. There will be a maximum of 25 tickets available for the talk. Please reserve your spot here.

All Day at the Museum (10:00-16:30)

• Terrific Teeth museum trails (pick up at reception)
• Self-led arts and crafts - make a paper Sabre-toothed cat skull!

Find out more about visiting the museum on our website here.