Date: January 9, 2019
Source: University of Zurich
The teeth
of most mammals, including humans, are only replaced once in a lifetime, when
the milk teeth give way to the permanent teeth. This one change is enough to
adapt to the increasing size of the jaw. But elephants increase greatly in size
and weight over the course of their lives -- from a starting weight of 100
kilograms to several tons in adulthood. One single change of teeth would not be
enough for the enormous growth of the jaw.
Elephants'
teeth change five times
That's
why the teeth of elephants are replaced a total of five times over their
lifespan. On each side of the jaw they have only one single tooth in use at a
time which is slowly pushed forwards by a new bigger tooth out of the mouth,
breaking off in pieces. If you look inside an elephant's mouth you will see
either only one single tooth or pieces of the old tooth behind which part of
the new tooth is pushing through, a process that is called molar progression.
As a
result of this process, the elephants' chewing surface gets bigger when two
teeth are present on one side at the same time, and then smaller again when
there is only one tooth on each side. For that reason there are times when it
is easier for the animals to eat more or chew the same amount more finely, and
hence increase the intake of digestible food.
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