Do you still know where your baby teeth are? We humans replace our teeth only once in our lifetime, from milk teeth to adult teeth. If the tooth fairy does her job correctly, you will get a penny when you put your tooth under your pillow. If this system applied to mammoths, they would get a lot more pennies..
Written by Manuel Quiring - expert Natural History
Eat, sleep, replace, repeat
This is because mammoths, just like modern Elephants replaced their molars, the chewing teeth, continuously for the first part of their life. One set is in use while one set grows behind to replace it when the teeth are worn out. Modern Elephants eat about 60 – 300 kg of quite hard plants each day. Considering that Mammoths were even larger this number should be even higher. It is no wonder then, that Mammoths replaced their Molars five times until the age of thirty. The sixth and final set stays in place until the Mammoth dies – and this can be a long time, modern Elephants get up to seventy years old.
From Tusk till Dawn
Tusks, however, were not replaced, they grew continuously during the lifespan of the Mammoth, growing from the tip to the base, thickening and growing in length on a continuous base. This results in enormous sizes; the largest tusk found in Russia in 2007 measures no less than 5,02 meters.
The smallest pair
We have this week in the Fossil Auction, what might be the smallest pair of Mammoth tusks ever found. They were found in Russia and measure only 13 cm. The tips are still intact, not worn at all and you can see a first layer that built around the very core. This Mammoth got most likely only one or two years old.
If you are interested in treasures from the past, explore our weekly natural history auction. If you are interested in selling, take a look here.