ELEPHANT SIZED CRUNCHIES

Elephants typically ingest about 250 to 300 lbs (113 to 136 kgs) of food a day consisting mostly of grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Even sizable branches are consumed. Their molars of which there are only four are massive somewhat triangular shaped structures with the more pointed end buried deep within the jaw. Each molar can weigh as much as 8 lbs (3.5 kg). The exposed surface used in grinding and crushing their food consists of a series of ridges packed together like slices on a loaf of bread about 3 inches (7.6 cm) wide and up to a foot (30.5 cm) in length. Unlike other large herbivores that grind their teeth from side to side, elephants do so by moving their jaws forward and back.
Massive as their molars are, they do wear out. Unlike most mammals including ourselves that have only two sets of molars in a lifetime, elephants produce six, the last set erupting when they are about 30 years of age. Instead of coming up from below like most mammals they push the older molars forward as if on a conveyor belt. The older molars continue to wear down until they become a shell and fall out while the new ones gradually fill in behind.
As a side note, it is interesting to see how this African elephant is using its trunk to support the weight of the branch while pushing it into the side of the mouth. The end of its two-fingered hand-like trunk is visibly gripping the branch. Asian elephants can do the same but have only one finger-like structure with which to grip.
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