Re: more on aquatic elephants

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jamesb@hgu.mrc.ac.uk writes:

>
>Not horns dude, tusks. And tusks are features that only show up in
>elephants, aquatics and swamp-dwellers......
>

The distribution of tusks in mammals is a little broader than you
have indicated. Mammals with tusks include the following:

Elephants (both sexes), Walruses (both sexes), Water-deer (male only),
at least five species of Muntjacs (male only), Tufted deer (male only),
Narwhal (male only), dugong (male only), at least 9 species of wild
pigs in 5 genera (both sexes), and peccaries (both sexes).

It could also be argued that some carnivores (saber-toothed cats, etc.)
had tusks as well. If this is the case then some marsupials also do.

These represent mammals living in an incredible variety of habitats
including marine, forests, savannas, desert chaparral, coastal areas,
and grasslands.

Rick Toomey
Illinois State Museum
toomey@museum.state.il.us

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