The molar piece has weighed 2 kilos and it measures 20 centimetres approx.
After a routine check-up, our veterinarians have detected the loss of a tooth in Kaiso, one of the Asian elephants that lives in Terra Natura Benidorm. The lower left molar piece found weighs no less than 2 kilos and measures about 20 centimetres long and 10 centimetres wide.
The fall of the teeth is part of the physiology of elephants, and it happens in most mammals. The pachyderms change their teeth six times along their life due to the tooth wear they experience. If an elephant loses its teeth, it could die due to starvation, which is why veterinarians follow the oral health of the elephants.
Teething in elephants starts at the age of one year and they usually change it every 10 years. As a curiosity, the change of teeth of this species starts from back to front, so that the new tooth pushes the old forward, so it is usual that they fall into pieces as has happened surprisingly in the case of Kaiso. The elephant of Terra Natura Benidorm has taken several years to complete the change of dentition.
The molars of the elephants are composed by dentine, enamel and cement; this makes that several molars are joined by cement forming a single piece. These animals have four molars, two upper and two lower, plus two upper incisors that have been developed as a defense and are called tusk. The tusk appears in the males of the species, both African and Asian, and in the African females.