I saw the DOT elk truck out this morning, and was reminded of a conversation I had with the crew when they were loading two elk in January. I mentioned that I was surprised to find the antlers cut off a roadkilled mule deer within two days of an accident; the DOT guy replied that they rarely pick up an elk carcass that still has its bugler teeth. He said that elk ivory is typically scavenged within hours of an accident.
Growing up in Vermont, the only ivory we heard about was from elephants, whales and walruses. In Colorado, everyone knows that each elk has two teeth that are ivory (and the rest aren’t)… at least that’s how the story goes.
The elk’s two canine teeth have been used for decoration forever. Many Indian tribes used them on dresses and shirts.
Sometimes Indians carved bone to look like elk teeth, since each elk only has two of these decorative bugler teeth (also called ivory teeth, eye teeth, tusks and whistlers).
The members of the BPOE were big fans of elk teeth; they liked them on watch fobs and cufflinks. You can buy old elk teeth in BPOE memorabilia on Ebay
and the boom in BPOE membership at the turn of the century is credited with having helped push the eastern elk to extinction. Today people still like to wear elk teeth. Here are earrings made from a pair of elk ivories, and in truth they’re kind of appealing: elk teeth are bulbous and hard, with a sort of a glow.
Hunters and jewelers claim that these elk canines are actually ivory. According to the Smithsonian Institute, they’re not. I’ll leave you with the words of Sally Sheldon, collections officer at the National Museum of Natural History.
Ivory is strictly defined as the acellular dentine structure characterizing proboscidean tusks. There is no other structure like it: the complex cone-within-cone structure is absolutely diagnostic of proboscideans, and no other mammal, let alone other vertebrate. (I looked it up for you: elephants are the only living proboscideans.)
…The term “ivory” gets used for a wide range of ivory-like or ivory-substitute
materials. It seems that any dense bone or bone-like structure that is
capable of being carved up for scrimshaw or figurines has at one time or
another been referred to as “ivory,” including hippo and suid “tusks,” any
antlers and horn cores, any compact bone sections (especially mammalian),
narwhal “horns,” ratite eggshells, hornbill casques, turtle carapace
fragments, large mollusk shells, and some very dense plant seed coat
structures. This is the context in which elk teeth get referred to as
“ivory.” Strictly speaking, they’re not.
Oh Kay.
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