How to Tell Whether an Elephant Is Old or Young
- 1). Examine the height of the elephant's shoulders. The elephant's height increases about 2 inches per year. Males grow faster than females, but they stop growing at about age 40. Females continue to grow into old age.
- 2). Examine the elephant's teeth. Like humans, elephants grow baby teeth that are replaced by a set of adult teeth by age 2. Unlike humans, they have four more sets of teeth that emerge at the ages of 6, 15, 28 and 40. If an elephant lives to be more than 60, that last set of molars will likely be worn down to stumps.
- 3). Examine the length of an elephant's tusks. The tusks begin to protrude out from the lips between the ages of 2 and 3. After that, they grow about 3 inches per year. (Note: Tusk length may vary depending on the gender and type of elephant. Female Asian elephants grow small tusks, if any at all.)
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