Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
As we’ve seen, elephants have a large cerebral cortex capable of creating a large long-term memory for their, and the herd’s, survival. Matriarchs build up memories to help the herd survive.
Even if it were a painless procedure, many elephants rely on their tusks to accomplish essential survival skills. Being left without the use of a tusk is not dissimilar to losing access to a hand.
Tusks are one of the most notable features of elephants, among their size and trunks. However, some elephants do not have tusks, and a high proportion of these elephants are females. Why do some ...
Both male and female African elephants have tusks that grow from deciduous teeth called tushes, which are replaced by tusks when calves are about one year old. Tusks are composed of dentin, which forms small diamond-shaped structures in the tusk's center that become larger at its periphery. [25]
Tusks are generally curved and have a smooth, continuous surface. The male narwhal's straight single helical tusk, which usually grows out from the left of the mouth, is an exception to the typical features of tusks described above. Continuous growth of tusks is enabled by formative tissues in the apical openings of the roots of the teeth. [2] [3]
The tusks are used to push through the dense undergrowth of their habitat. [14] The largest tusk recorded for the species is 2.41 metres (7.9 ft) long and 60 kilograms (130 lb) in weight. A larger tusk measuring 2.96 metres (9.7 ft) long and weighing 70 kilograms (150 lb) has been recorded, but this may belong to a forest-bush elephant hybrid.
As elephants began to lose their tusks over time (or at least lose the length of their tusks), the trunks were still useful. Nowadays, elephants have much less pronounced tusks depending on the ...
Although the elephants clearly do not understand that they require salt in their diet, they show interest only in the cation-rich zeolite, tusking it into smaller edible fragments. This activity is performed in groups, and years of tusk marks indicate the knowledge of the cave has been passed down over generations.