tusk

Everyday

1. A tusk is a very long, pointed tooth that grows out of the mouth of some animals, such as elephants, walruses, wild boars and narwhals. tree →
2. Tusks are used for digging, fighting, lifting and getting food, and they keep growing through the animal's life. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons tusks come up in adaptations: elephants use tusks to dig for water and strip bark, walruses use them to pull themselves onto the ice. In conservation lessons pupils learn that tusks are made of ivory and that poachers kill elephants for it, so selling ivory is banned or limited in many countries. In stories about mammoths and wild boars, tusks show the animal is strong and dangerous.

Examples

• The elephant lifted the log with its tusks. tree →
• Walruses use their tusks to haul themselves onto the ice. tree →
• A narwhal's tusk is really one long spiral tooth. tree →
• Woolly mammoths had huge curved tusks. tree →
• Elephant tusks are made of ivory. tree →
• The wild boar's tusks were sharp and curved. tree →
• Poachers hunt elephants for their tusks, which is against the law. tree →
• Some elephants are born without tusks. tree →
• Lay your beast alongside, Toomai, and let him prod with his tusks. tree →

Note

Plural «tusks». A tusk is a tooth, not a horn; horns grow on the head, tusks come out of the mouth. «Tusked» means having tusks. Do not confuse with «task» (a job).