egg tooth

noun

a calcareous prominence at the tip of the beak or upper jaw of an embryonic bird or reptile, used to break through the eggshell at hatching.

egg tooth

(in embryo birds and reptiles) a temporary tooth or (in birds) projection of the beak used for piercing the eggshell

egg tooth

A hard, toothlike projection from the beak of embryonic birds, or from the upper jaw of embryonic reptiles, that is used to cut the egg membrane and shell upon hatching and that later falls off.

First recorded in 1890–95

In owl IV, the egg-tooth was lost sometime between the 9th and 14th day.

Traces of the egg-tooth were retained until the ninth day in two owls and until the 11th day in another.

The egg tooth was last seen on a young bird on the sixth day.

By noon on August 22 no trace of an egg tooth remained on any of the hatchlings.

April 25, 2024firkin

[fur-kin ]

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