Perhaps the most obvious differences between African and Asian elephants — besides the ears — lies in their tusks. These pointy, prominent second incisors in the animal's upper jaws (made of dentine, the same material that our own teeth are made of) are one of the main reasons they are hunted and killed by humans.
Elephants on both continents have tusks. But female Asian elephants tend to have either very small ones or none at all. And, just as humans are left or right-handed, elephants are left or right-tusked. Usually it's easy to spot which is the dominant tusk as it’s the one that's more worn down from constant use. Sometimes you find a ridge in the end of the tusk which has been used to coil and pull at foliage over and over...
