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How do elephants use their tusks for feeding and digging?
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elephant
African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana).
Elephants use their tusksâwhich are enlarged incisor teeth made of ivoryâas versatile tools for both feeding and digging.1
When feeding, elephants utilize their tusks to gather food and strip bark from trees to eat. While the tusks assist in these tasks, the trunk acts as the primary appendage for grasping and manipulating specific food items, such as grasses, leaves, and fruits, before placing them into the mouth.12
For digging, elephants employ their tusks to excavate the ground, often working in conjunction with their feet and trunks to dig water holes in dry riverbeds during periods of drought.1