elephant tusks

elephant tusks

The tusks of an elephant are the second upper incisors. Tusks grow continuously; the fangs of an average adult grow approximately 15 cm per year. Tusks are used to dig for water, salt or roots; to remove the bark of trees to eat the bark; to dig the tree adansonia to withdraw its pulp; and to move trees and branches when a path is created. Furthermore, they are used to mark the trees to demarcate the territory and occasionally as weapons.

Like humans who are typically handed, elephants are either left or right hand. The dominant attached, called the master prey is generally shorter and more rounded tip because of the use. Both males and females of African elephants have large tusks that can reach over 3 m in length and weigh more than 90 kg. In the Asian species, only the males have large tusks. Asian females have tusks that are either too small or are simply non-existent. Asian males can have tusks as long as African males, but are usually thinner and lighter; the prey registered heaviest ever weighed 39 kg. The prey both species and consists primarily of calcium phosphate in the form of apatite. As a living tissue is relatively soft (compared with other minerals such as rock), and the prey, also called ivory, is appreciated by artists for its esculturabilidade. The elephant ivory demand has been one of the reasons for the dramatic decline of the world's elephant population.

Some extinct relatives of elephants had also trapped in the lower jaw, as Gomphotherium, or only in the lower jaw, as Deinotherium.