Billy Kowalski, age 9 of Albany, N.Y.., For his question:

Do elephants have teeth?

Jumbo has the biggest and the most valuable teeth in the whole animal kingdom. His mighty tusks are two front teeth growing dawn from his upper jaw. And his tusks grow slowly bigger all through his life. The African elephant may have tusks 112 feet long, and his wife’s tusky front teeth may reach a length of 6 .1 feet. The Indian elephant is smaller than the African e1ephant and so are his tusks. They grow from nine to 10 feet in length. The female Indian elephant has no tusks.

An elephant also has huge grinding teeth in his upper and lower jaws. If he lives a long time, Jumbo may wear out 24 of these grinders, and when they are all useless, the gentle giant cannot chew his hay and tough vegetables. The grinding Molars are covered with enamel. The mighty tusks are made entirely of dentine, or precious ivory.