With their long tusks (象牙), elephants look strong. However, it is this feature that makes the
animal endangered. Many of them are killed for their tusks. People make elephant
tusks into crafts (工艺品) and jewelry and sell them to rich
people.
But can these priceless body parts grow
back? The answer is no, Live Science said. The elephants' tusks are actually part
of their teeth. Nearly all African elephants and most male Asian elephants have
these long teeth. About one-third of the tusk is in the animal's skull (头骨). The tusk has a nerve (神经) running down its
center. This makes it similar to your teeth. Once you lose a tooth, you will never
grow a new one.
Elephants use their tusks to protect themselves,
lift things, dig water and gather food. But losing the tusk will not kill them.
The way in which they lose the tusk is what matters. Usually, people get tusks by
culling (限量捕杀), which means killing old and weak elephants.
They also take tusks from the elephants that have died naturally.
However,
these sources aren't enough to keep up with the demand for ivory. Therefore, some
poachers (偷猎者) kill healthy elephants and cut their
faces open to remove the tusks. About 27,000 elephants are killed by poachers each
year, according to National Geographic.
As a result of poaching, some African
elephants gradually evolved (进化) without tusks, which has
allowed them to survive. In Mozambique, about 90 percent of African elephants were
killed for their tusks and meat from 1975 to 1992, National Geographic reported.
Scientists found that about a third of
younger females—the generation born after 1992—never developed tusks.