Elephant Teeth
A Few Important Facts About Elephant Teeth
Two of the more interesting facts regarding elephant teeth are that there are so few of them, and at least two of the teeth become quite large. The very large teeth are incisors, which are very visible, and which we know as tusks. The elephant also has four molars, for a total of six teeth. The molars have their own interesting story to tell, and we'll start with them.
The molars are used to grind and chew the food, and do so as the jaw is moved back and forth, and not side to side as is the case with other herbivores. As the molars wear out, they are replaced by new ones. The replacement molars come from the back of the jaw, and push the existing molar forward until it eventually falls out. Our first set of teeth are replaced from below. Elephant teeth, the molars that is, are replaced from behind, and this typically occurs six times over an elephant's lifetime. A baby elephant is born with two small molar teeth. At one year of age, the first teeth have been replaced with a second set, with a third set on the way. By the 10th year, the third set is slowly being replaced by a 4th set, and a 5th set is starting to grow. By 26 years of age the 5th set is established and set number 6, the final set, is starting to grow. It will begin replacing the 5th set at about the 36th year. By the time the elephant is 60 years old, only the 6th set remains. When this set of molars wears out, the elephant must search for food that is easier to chew. Eventually the elephant will begin to weaken from dietary deficiency, and will die. The first molars are quite small, having a surface area of a square inch or so. Each new set is larger than the set it replaces, and molars in an adult elephant are easily the size of a brick, and weight 8 or 9 pounds apiece.
The tusks are the elephant teeth we are most familiar with, even though we may not think of them as being teeth. The tusks would be called the upper incisors in other animals. They generally make their first outward appearance when an elephant calf is about 1 year old. Tusks initially have a coat of dental enamel, as is the case with the elephant's other teeth, the molars. Through use, this coat will eventually wear off, so the adult elephant's tusks consist largely of dentine. The elephant uses its tusks for many tasks, including digging for water or salt, stripping bark from trees, and moving branches to reach food. The tusks are also used to mark territory (by marking trees), and are used for fighting. The Asian elephant, when domesticated, will use its tusks to carry logs. About 60% of a tusk is living tissue, with a pulp cavity and blood vessels, like we have in our own teeth. Consequently the tusks can be quite sensitive. A broken tusk can bring about the death of an elephant because of severe pain.
All African elephants have tusks, the Savannah elephants having the largest. Approximately half of the Asian elephants have tusks, with the females having no tusks or very small, thin tusks, which often break off as the animal reaches maturity. Because of hunting and poaching in years past, the number of very old elephants is no longer large. Consequently, the average tusk has decreased in size over the years, as there are fewer and fewer of the very large tusked (older) animals left. Ivory unfortunately remains much in demand, and as long as this is the case, elephants must remain a protected species.
Consisting of two tusks, and four molars, elephant teeth have to have among the strangest arrangement of teeth in the animal world.