Where Do We Get Ivory?
Ivory is a hard substance, not unlike bone, of which the teeth of most mammals chiefly consist, the dentine or tooth-substance which in transverse sections shows lines of different color running in circular arcs. It is used extensively for industrial purposes and is derived from the elephant, walrus, hippopotamus, narwhal, and some other animals. The ivory of the tusks of the African elephant is held in the highest estimation by manufacturers; the tusks vary in size, ranging from a few ounces in weight to 170 pounds. Holtzapffel states that he saw fossil tusks on the banks of rivers of Northern Siberia which weighed 186 pounds each. Ivory is simply tooth-substance of exceptional hardness, toughness, and elasticity, due to the firmness and regularity of the dentinal tubules which radiate from the axial pulp-cavity to the periphery of the tooth.