subject: The African Elephant Teeth [print this page] The African Elephant Teeth
The African elephant belongs to the genus Loxodonta which means 'oblique-sided tooth'. The genus name Loxodonta was initially known as loxodonte before an unknown author Romanized the name to what it is today. This genus is only found in Africa. The African elephant is larger than the Asian elephant. The males stand at 3.6m tall at the shoulder and weigh about 5400 kg to about 6800 kg. Females are a bit shorter standing at 3 m and weigh between 3600 and 4600 kg. They are herbivores and feed on barks of trees, grass and any ordinary vegetation.
Elephants have four molars. Each molar weighs about 5 kg and is about 30 cm long. Two are placed at the front and the other two at the back. When the front ones wear out, they drop out in pieces. The back pair shifts to the front and a new pair grows at the back. Elephants replace their teeth six times. At the age of between forty and sixty years, the teeth replacement cycle is complete. It now becomes toothless and might die from starvation.
Their tusks are the second pair of incisors that grows to become like horns. These incisors or tusks are used for digging up roots, fighting with each other when mating and for defending themselves from predators such as lions. The tusks weigh from 23 to 45 kg and can be from 1.5 to 2.4 m long. Both the male and female African elephants have tusks unlike the Asian elephants. The enamel plates of the African elephant teeth are lesser in number than the Asian elephant.
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