“Why is it that poachers kill elephants for their ivory? Can’t they just tranquilize the elephant, cut off the tusks, and let them live? They grow back, right?”

-Murphy, New York Mills, NY, U.S.A.

I have been asked this question a few times over the years. It’s an ugly question with an even uglier answer.

Fact:  An elephant’s tusks are actually its teeth, specifically, its upper incisors. Tusks are really only dentine and their composition is no different from ordinary teeth. Elephant ivory has a distinctive luster and shimmer and this has created a  global lust to make pretty things out of them. The elephant uses its tusks for digging out grasses and roots, excavating for water, removing bark from trees, clearing out brush and sometimes as weapons for fighting, among other things. Only about two-thirds of the elephant’s tusk is visible, with the remainder being lodged in tooth sockets and the cranial cavity.

Tusks are referred to by scientists as ‘alive,’ in that the inside of the tusk is a pulp cavity filled with tissue that contains blood vessels and nerves  If an elephant were to have its tusk broken off, in a worst case scenario, the pulp from the inside of the tusks (i.e. all the nerves and blood vessels) would be exposed, causing a massive infection and an eventual, extraordinarily painful death. In short: cutting off an elephant’s tusk is the same as getting a root canal with your dentist never capping off the work.

Elephants go through six sets of normal teeth in a lifetime.  Tusks are specialized teeth and elephants have only one set that continue growing throughout the elephant’s life. They are sometimes broken off as a result of natural movements, such as digging and sparring with other elephants. If a tusk is not broken off at its root, then yes- the tusk will continue to grow.

Warning: this is the part where my answer is going to get very ugly.

Poaching elephants is illegal in every country in Africa.  Poachers kill elephants rather than tranquilize them because they want to avoid arrest and tranquilizing an elephant is time-consuming,  expensive, dangerous, and requires a very specialized expertise.  Poachers are in the business of making money. When an elephant has been spotted by a poacher as a target, the elephant is killed and it is then mutilated. Because the tusks extend into the elephant’s cranial cavity, poachers hack out the tusks in order to get as much ivory as possible  This is why, when you see gruesome photos of poached elephants, much of their face and cranial area is missing.

Walking with giants: African savannah elephants roaming in Masai Mara, Kenya (Photo Credit: Craig R. Sholley)

It is not an understatement to say that poaching of elephants is barbaric. Through the implementation of AWF programs and the dedication of superb on-the-ground colleagues (such as the superstars of the Hifadhi Anti-Poaching Network and the Kilimanjaro Elephant Research and Conservation Project, both located in AWF’s Kilimanjaro Heartland) and our loyal supporters, AWF has been a leader in helping to protect these magnificent giants.

Wait! Before You Go…

I know we covered an extraordinarily important yet very grim topic today but don’t think you’re helpless in helping elephants: you are not. You can help AWF by donating to help support elephant conservation in southern Africa, give to AWF’s Elephant Conservation Research Project , or help establish a wildlife corridor.

Author: Erin

Heading up AWF’s membership desk for the past eight years, Erin Keyes has amassed quite a bit of knowledge about Africa’s wildlife and unique wild lands. She’s also an expert on AWF’s membership benefits and programs. She started this blog to share what’s she’s learned and to give AWF supporters another forum for asking questions