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See also:PROBOSCIDEA (animals " with a See also:proboscis ") , the scientific name of the See also:group of mammals represented at the See also:present See also:day only by the two See also:species of See also:elephant. Although here regarded as a sub-See also:order of See also:UNGULATA (q.v.), the group is sometimes accorded the See also:rank of an order by itself.' The existing elephants are widely sundered from all other living mammals, and for a See also:long See also:time palaeontology afforded but little See also:clue as to their ancestry. Discoveries made during the first few years of the loth See also:century in the See also:Lower See also:Tertiary deposits of the See also:Fayum See also:district of See also:Egypt have, however, brought to See also:light the existence of several kinds of See also:primitive proboscideans which serve to See also:link the group with other ungulates, and likewise apparently indicate See also:affinity with the Sirenia. The following are some of the leading characteristics of existing elephants. The combined upper lips and See also:nose are produced into a long See also:muscular, flexible and prehensile proboscis, or See also:trunk, with the nostrils at its tip. The See also:teeth consist of a pair of large upper permanently growing incisors or tusks; and a set of cheek-teeth having their crowns composed of a See also:series of tall transverse See also:vertical plates gradually increasing in number from the first to the last of the series; and only portions of two of these teeth being in use at any one time. There are no clavicles; and the limbs are stout, with their component segments placed nearly in a vertical See also:line, and the upper segment, especially in the See also:hind-See also:limb, the longest; the See also:radius and ulna are distinct, the latter articulating extensively with the carpus; the fibula and See also:tibia also distinct; the astragalus very See also:flat on both surfaces; and both front and hind feet See also:short, broad and massive, with five toes (though the See also:outer pair may be more or less rudimentary), all encased in a See also:common integument, though with distinct, broad, short hoofs; third See also:digit the largest. Two anterior venae cavae entering the right See also:auricle. See also:Stomach See also:simple. A capacious caecum. Testes permanently abdominal. Uterus bicornuate. See also:Placenta deciduate and zonary. Teats two, See also:pectoral. In order to understand the See also:peculiar nature of the dentition, it is necessary to discuss to some extent those of the immediate ancestors of the true elephants, such as the mastodons (see Dentition. See also:MASTODON). As regards the incisors, or tusks, which ' See also:Cuvier's order Pachydermata (Gr. 7raxhs, thick and Sepµa, skin), containing the elephants, hippopotami, See also:rhinoceros, See also:swine, tapirs, hyraxes, &c., is now abandoned, its members now forming the orders Proboscidea and See also:Hyracoidea and the sub-order Parissodactyla. A few See also:Artiodactyla are also included. and generally curved, these are composed mainly of solid dentine, the See also:fine elastic quality and large See also:mass of which renders it invaluable as " See also:ivory " for See also:commerce and the arts. A peculiarity of the dentine of the Proboscidea is that it shows, in transverse fractures or sections, fine lines proceeding in the arc of a circle from the centre 1 ZI' IV, Elephas primigenius. to the circumference in opposite directions, and forming by their decussations See also:curvilinear lozenges, as in the " See also:engine-turning " of the See also:case of a See also:watch. The See also:enamel-covering in existing species is confined to the extreme See also:apex, and very soon wears off, but in some See also:extinct species it forms persistent See also:longitudinal bands of limited breadth. The tusks have small See also:milk-predecessors, See also:shed at an See also:early See also:age. As regards the cheek-teeth, these are composed in the mastodons of a variable number of enamel-covered transverse ridges, often divided into inner and outer columns, which may partially alternate, and complicated by smaller additional columns; but in the unworn tooth they stand out freely on the See also:surface of the See also:crown, with deep valleys between (fig. r, I). In the elephants the ridges are increased in number, and consequently become narrower from before back-wards, while they are greatly extended in vertical height. In order to give solidity to what would otherwise be a See also:comb-like tooth, the whole structure is enveloped and See also:united in a large mass of See also:cement, which completely fills the valleys, and gives a See also:general smooth See also:appearance to the unworn tooth; but as the See also:wear consequent upon the masticating See also:process proceeds, the alternate layers of See also:tissue of different hardness—cement, dentine and enamel—which are disclosed upon the surface See also:form a fine and efficient grinding See also:instrument. The intermediate stages between the molar of a See also:modern elephant and that of a mastodon are so fully known that it is not possible to draw a definite line between the two types of tooth-structure (see fig. I, II, III, IV). As regards the mode of See also:succession, that of modern elephants is very peculiar. During the See also:complete lifetime of the See also:animal there are but six cheek-teeth, which it will be convenient to allude to as molars, on each See also:side of each See also:jaw, with occasionally a rudimentary one in front, completing the typical number of seven. The last three represent the molars of See also:ordinary. mammals, those in front are milk-molars, which are never replaced by permanent successors, the whole series gradually moving forwards in the jaw, and the teeth becoming worn away and their remnants See also:cast out in front, while development of others proceeds behind. The individual- teeth are so large, and the processes of growth and destruction by wear take See also:place so slowly, that not more than one, or portions of two, teeth are ever in place and in use on each side of each jaw at otn time, and the whole series of changes coincides with the usual duration of the animal's See also:life. On the other See also:hand, the earlier representations of the proboscidean series referred to below have the whole of the cheek-teeth in place and use at one time, and the milk-molars vertically displaced by premolars in the ordinary See also:fashion. Among mastodons transitional forms occur in the mode of succession as well as in structure, many species showing a vertical displacement of one or more of the milk-molars, and the same has been observed I, Mastodon americanus; II, Elephas (Stegodon) insignis; to N PROBOSCIDEA See also:sole. The hind See also:foot is smaller and narrower than the front. The See also:liver is small and simple, and there is no See also:gall-See also:bladder. In form the See also:brain resembles that of the lower orders of mammals in that the cerebellum is entirely behind and uncovered by the cerebrum, but the hemispheres of the latter are richly convoluted. Elephants are exclusively See also:vegetable-feeders, living, chiefly on leaves and See also:young branches of See also:forest trees and various kinds of herbage, or roots, which they gather and convey to their mouth by a very See also:mobile proboscis, an See also:organ which combines in a marvellous manner strength with dexterity of application, and is a necessary See also:compensation for the shortness and inflexibility of the See also:neck, as it is by this that many of the functions of the lips of other animals are performed. By its means elephants are enabled to drink without bending the See also:head or limbs, The end of the trunk being dipped, for instance, into a stream or See also:pool, a forcible See also:inspiration fills the two capacious See also:air-passages in its interior with See also:water, which, on the tip of the trunk being turned upwards and inserted into the mouth, is ejected by a blowing See also:action, and swallowed. Or if the animal wishes to refresh and cool its skin, it can throw the water in a copious stream over any See also:part of its surface. Elephants can also throw dust and See also:sand over their bodies by the same means and for the same purpose, and they have frequently been observed fanning themselves with boughs held in the trunk. The following are the distinctive features of the genus Elephas, the type of the See also:family Elephantidae: Dentition: i. o, c. o, m. 1=26. The incisors variable, but usually of very large See also:size, especially in the male See also:sex, directed somewhat outwards, and curved upwards, without enamel except on the apex before it is worn; preceded by small milk-incisors. The molars succeed each other by See also:horizontal replacement from before backwards, never more than one or part of two being in use on each side of each jaw at the same time; each composed of numerous flattened enamel-covered plates or ridges of dentine, projecting from a common many-rooted See also:base, surrounded and united together by cement. The number of plates increases from the anterior to the posterior molar in See also:regular succession, varying in the different species, but the third and See also:fourth (or the last milk-molar and the first true molar), and these only, have the same number of ridges, which always exceeds five. See also:Skull of adult very high and globular. Lower jaw ending in front in a deflected, spout-like symphysis. Vertebrae: C. 7, D. 19-21, L. 3-4, S. 4, C, 26-33. The two existing species of elephant are the See also:Indian or See also:Asiatic (Elephas See also:maximus), and the See also:African (E. See also:africanus), the distinctive characteristics of which are given under ELEPHANT. See also See also:MAMMOTH and MASTODON. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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