Sliced and polished sectoin of a long extinct Mammoth tooth, presented in a hard case to keep it safe, with a reference card, making it ideal for gifting or for simply adding to your own fossil collection! You will receive the exact piece shown. Mammoths had a unique dental system consisting of four functional molar teeth at a time, two on top and two on the bottom, that acted like massive, ridged grinding plates. These teeth were composed of multiple enamel ridges called lamellae, which were specifically adapted to grind through the tough, gritty grasses of the ancient tundra.Over a lifetime, a mammoth would go through six sets of these molars, as one set wore down, a larger, more complex set would grow in from the back of the jaw and slide forward to replace it, much like a conveyor belt. This replacement process typically ended around age 30 with the sixth and final set, which the mammoth would use for the remainder of its roughly 60- to 70-year lifespan. Once this last set was completely worn down, the animal could no longer chew its food and would eventually die of starvation.
