Africa's Giant Tuskers

[Lisbeth]

One elephant = 2 tusks + one elephant = 2 tusks = 4 tusks

The tusks of the last photo are enormous Must have been very big bulls

[Alf]

4 tusks on 1 elephant

[100ponder]

Hi Nan, I can not blame "settlers" for any elephant massacre. ( what exactly is the definition of a settler ? )

Elephant harvesting had been ongoing for many thousands of years now - even King Soloman of the Jews had a throne made out of ivory ! And that in a land where no elephants had occurred for for many thousands of years before him - so the prestige value of ivory was already very high in his time.

Another example :- In the approx 1860 era Tippu Tib ( Arab slave and ivory trader ) was already actively providing ivory to the East - and reading books referring to him, you notice that he traded very large tonnage of ivory, maybe fueling even today's craving for ivory in the East.

I just want to leave you with the thought :- If elephant harvesting never occurred and, judging by today's evidence of rapid elephant population growth, what would have happened if in the dim past,Africa was over-run by elephants who are known to be major habitat destroyers ? ( Remember, there are no real carnivores that can impact on elephant populations.)

[Richprins]

Agreed, 100p!

[nan]

I was thinking of these "colons" (settler - invader...)

quote
"A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally from a sedentary culture, as opposed to nomads who share and rotate their settlements with little or no concept of individual land ownership. Settlements are often built on land already claimed or owned by another group. Many times settlers are backed by governments or large countries." Wikipédia
unquote

existing for many many years.... and made $$$$ on the back of population, faune etc...

[Richprins]

Ja! Chinese now...

[nan]

[Flutterby]

Never heard of 4 tusk ellies...very interesting!

[100ponder]

Ok, more of how big tuskers can grow - here is the world no 5 set of tusks - I don't have the exact weight, length, area the tusks are from or who the finder of these magnificent tusks was. Any-one out there with more detail ?



Note :-
Please, this posting is to celebrate the magnificence of tuskers of today as well as those from yesterday. Anti-hunting comments not allowed here, you can post those under the relevant thread else-where on AW.

[Richprins]

Looks like the late 1950's, 100p?

Bow and arrow may indicate central Africa?