The Dentition of the Alaskan Fur Seal

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Abstract
The dentitional characteristics of mammals have long been considered to be of the greatest phylogenetic significance. Not only have dental patterns been important in differentiating between species and genera but also in determining the relationships of orders. Perhaps even more important in this last regard has been the mode of development and growth of the teeth. The fact that mammalian teeth are heterodont is used as an important criterion in defining the class; and even the origin of this great systematic group has been determined primarily by the fact that mammals, like synapsid reptiles, have a thecodont dentition.