Michael Morton, age 9, of Henderson, Nev., for his question:
HOW MANY TEETH DOES AN ELEPHANT HAVE?
An elephant's tusks are really two long curved teeth called incisors. They are made of ivory and about two thirds of each tusk sticks out of the upper jaw. The rest is in the skull.
Young elephants grow baby tusks called "milk tusks." They are never more than two inches long. The animals sheds them before it is 2 years old and then the permanent tusks grow in. The tusks are used to dig for food and to fight.
An elephant also has molars or grinding teeth that are at least one foot long and weigh about eight and a half pounds each. The animal has only four of these teeth at any one time. One tooth is on each side of each jaw.
New molars form in the back of the mouth. They push forward as the old teeth in front wear down and drop out.
During a lifetime, an elephant grows six sets of four molars each. The last set comes in when the animal is about 40 years old.