Mammoths are closely realted to moden elephants with very similar teeth patterns. In the diverse adaptations of teeth in various animal groups, none is more spectacular than that of the elephant. The second incisors in the upper jaw became enormously enlarged to form tusks. There are the only anterior teeth. The cheek tetth developed to produce a large grinding surface by becoming eleongate and consisting of a series of high, thin, crosswise ridges. There is only one of these teeth exposed in each half jaw at a time. As one wears out it moves forward and is replaced by a new one. When ancestral elephants first appeared in the lower part of the Tertiary, the second incisors were only slightly enlarged, the grinding surface of the cheek teeth had but two or three cross ridges, and all cheek teeth in place at once. The mammoth is a rather advanced form of elephant as indicated by the multiple cross ridges on the grinding teeth seen in this specimen.
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