How many teeth does an elephant have?

The total number of teeth an elephant has is 24, six in each half jaw. No more than two of the six teeth are in wear at the same time in each side of a jaw (the only exception is in young elephants which may use three.) Teeth grow from the back of the jaw and follow a linear pathway of movement forwards as the preceding tooth is progressively worn down in the front. Each tooth drops out as it reaches the front of the elephant's jaw.:)))))

Teeth: Elephants do not have canine teeth but they have four high crowned molars with a complex structure for grinding their food. These teeth do not succeed one another vertically in the usual mammalian fashion, but come in successively from behind, one tooth at a time. Think of them like a conveyor belt moving slowly from back to front. When the foremost tooth is so worn down and is of no further use, it is pushed out, mostly in pieces and replaced at the rear by a new one. An elephant grows only six complete sets of these molars during its lifetime; the final set finishes growing in at about the age of 40. This method of replacing teeth prolongs their dentition until that age. Many elephants do reach the age of 60, but few elephants reach the age of 70 because the teeth will be worn down and decayed to the point of them not being able to eat any more resulting in death by slow starvation. A baby elephant will have two or three cheek teeth in each jaw quadrant. As it gets older, new and successively bigger teeth will form in back of these, slowly pushing them forward.

The tusks, which never stop growing, are in fact teeth (elongated upper incisors) and are classified as ivory. They are modified incisors made up mostly of dentine (a bone like tissue found in many animals). The only other animal to have ivory teeth is the walrus. Not all the male Asian elephants have tusks; the tendency is genetically determined. For example in Sri Lanka only 7% of the males are tuskers whereas in Southern India up to 90% will have tusks. These regional variations may have something to do with past and present hunting pressure. In the females they are either absent or rudimentary. Males are sometimes found with tusks up to 1.8m in length; however they are usually much shorter because they have been worn down from work, foraging, digging or broken from fighting. It is very rare to find a male with evenly long tusks.

24

19

They have 24 teeth

an adult elephant has 26 teeth including the tusks

32

They have 24 teeth. 12 front teeth, called premolars, and 12 back teeth, called molars

Two tusks? I have never seen the inside of their mouths!

Although, I did have one pick me up with his trunk wrapped around my waist, right off the platform where I was standing.

That was a thrill! lol!

Peace and Blessings

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