CHAPTER XI 



ELEPHANT TUSKS 



The story of the slow and gradual evolution of mammoth 

 and elephant from the earliest stages naturally leads up to 

 a more special presentment of the facts regarding their 

 wonderful tusks, at once the pride and the bane of these 

 last survivors of the monsters of far-off times. Indeed, it 

 may be said that the importance of the elephant in our 

 day results almost exclusively from the utilization of ivory 

 in the arts and industries. Still, it is well to remember that 

 these marvellously developed teeth have been evolved in 

 harmony with the general structural development of the 

 elephant. The progressive change in the length of the 

 tusks conditioned a reciprocal change in the form of the 

 skull. Each stage of the individual development repre- 

 sents the results of an effort to establish an equilibrium 

 between skull and tusks, this equilibrium being progressively 

 disturbed by a lengthening of the tusks and again reestab- 

 lished by a corresponding change in the skull. This recip- 

 rocal process of growth continues at least up to the full 

 maturity of the individual elephant. What is true of the 

 individual must also have been true of the successive stages 

 in the development of the various elephant species, the 

 changes here taking place, however, with less regularity 

 and with occasional periods of interruption, although the 

 principle and cause are the same.* 



*W. Soergel, "Die Stammesgeschichte der Elephanten," Centralblatt filr Mineralogie, 

 Geologie and Palaontolgie," 1915, No. 7, April 1st; Stuttgart, 1915, pp. 208, 209. 



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