How do elephant tusks develop?

An elephant's tusks are both a blessing and curse. Blessing because they give a sense of true majesty that rise them above other animals as well and being of use for various tasks. A curse because man's avarice for ivory has led to the senseless slaughter of hundreds of thousands of the magnificent animals. read more

Usually in mammals tusks are enlarged canine teeth, but in elephants they are actually elongated incisors and are essentially no different from other teeth. One third of the tusk is actually hidden from view, embedded deep in the elephant’s head. This part of the tusk is a pulp cavity made up of tissue, blood and nerves. The visible, ivory part of the tusk is made of dentine with an outer layer of enamel. read more

For the African elephants, tusks are present in both males and females, and are around the same length in both sexes, reaching up to 3 m (10 ft), but those of males tend to be thicker. In earlier times, elephant tusks weighing over 200 pounds (more than 90 kg) were not uncommon, though it is rare today to see any over 100 pounds (45 kg). read more