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So does this mean that there is potential for elephants to use their tusks for more than just brute force fighting?
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That's an interesting question (although it's worth pointing out that elephants use their tusks for a lot more than fighting). It's possible, of course, but I doubt it. Narwhals seem to be fairly gentle in the use of their tusks, as you might expect for an organ so filled with nerves, whereas elephants use their tusks for digging and lifting all the time, suggesting that theirs are less sensitive. Plus, I don't think that elephant tusks sport the millions of tubules leading from the surface down into the inner nerves of the tusk the way the narwhal's does.
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Gets me thinking, again, about mammal intelligence, too (including communication among whales and dolphins). That amount of sensory input implies processing centers in the brain.
Odd, but in retrospect, this finding doesn't surprise me. Evolutionarily, it's quite plausible that a creature would thrive in an arctic environment based on an ability to probe upwards between ice floes (like a submarine periscope) to 'taste' the weather and other conditions, without exposing its body to predators or losing auditory contact with its fellows.
The views of narwhals leaping out of the water are dramatic; I wonder if narwhals also -- perhaps more frequently, but less noticed -- just poke the tusk a fraction above the surface, sampling.
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