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Ch. 11: Elephant Tusks

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ELEPHANT TUSKS
419
Sudan. Their tusks have been carefully measured, and show the following dimensions and weights:
There appears to be considerable difference in the average size of tusks from the various African regions. For example, while those from Abyssinia and Taka show an average of about 25 lbs., the average for tusks from Central Africa is about 40 lbs., the usual limit of size being 40 lbs. from the former region and as high as 140 lbs. from the latter; this, of course, leaves out of account the occasional tusks of al­together exceptional weight. The difficulty experienced in securing a really symmetrical pair of tusks is principally caused by the fact that an elephant will use one of them, either the right or the left, as the case may be, more fre­quently than the other, just as most men employ the right hand more usually than the left one. This "working tusk" called by the Arabs the Hadam, or "Servant," will therefore exhibit great signs of wear. Although its trunk is of vastly more use to an elephant than its tusks, still the African elephant, a much more decided tree feeder than the Indian, utilizes them in the wholesale destruction of mimosa trees, a favorite article of diet. By thrusting the tusks like crow­bars under the roots of such trees, which while generally from 16 ft. to 20 ft. high, have no tap roots, the elephants can easily bring them to the ground.*
* This and the following paragraph communicated by Lieut. F. W. Feavearyear of the British Army.
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