1. Defense: Tusks were formidable weapons that provided woolly mammoths with a means of defense against predators, such as saber-toothed cats and other large carnivores. The tusks could be used to gore, slash, and deter potential attackers, helping the mammoths protect themselves and their young.
2. Foraging and Feeding: Woolly mammoths used their tusks to forage for food and strip bark from trees. Their long, curved tusks were well-suited for reaching vegetation high up in trees and digging into snow and ice to access frozen plants. They could also use their tusks to break through the frozen ground to reach buried vegetation.
3. Digging and Excavating: Mammoths' tusks were also employed for digging and excavating tasks. They could use them to dig holes in the ground to find water during dry periods or to create wallows for cooling off in muddy water.
4. Social Interactions and Dominance: Tusks were important for social interactions and establishing dominance among male mammoths. During mating season, males would engage in tusk-to-tusk combat to determine which one was the strongest and had the right to mate with the females. The larger and more impressive the tusks, the more likely a male mammoth was to be successful in these competitions.
5. Communication and Marking: Tusks might have been used for communication and marking territory. Mammoths could rub their tusks against trees, rocks, or the ground to leave scent markings indicating their presence and status to other mammoths.
6. Defense against the cold: Mammoths' tusks may have also played a role in helping the animals to regulate their body temperature. Tusks contain blood vessels, which can help to transfer heat in and out of the body, potentially assisting in maintaining the mammoth's core temperature in extreme cold conditions.
Overall, the tusks of woolly mammoths were versatile structures that had multiple functions vital for the survival, foraging, defense, and social interactions of these majestic prehistoric animals.