Elk reference · The ivories
Two small rounded teeth of true ivory, tucked in the upper jaw — a leftover from a time before antlers, when the deer family wore tusks. What the ivories are, why an elk still carries them, that cows have them too, and the long tradition of keeping them.
A leftover from before antlers
An elk has two teeth that aren’t like the others. The upper canines — the ivories — are made of true ivory, the same class of material as an elephant’s tusks, and they’re the only ivory most North American animals carry. Smooth, rounded, and ringed with age, they sit in the upper jaw where, on an ancestor, real tusks once grew.
That’s exactly what they are: a vestige. Before the deer family settled on antlers for display and combat, its members fought and showed with tusks — and a few small deer still do. As antlers took over, the tusks shrank to the little ivories an elk wears today, functionless but persistent, a fossil you can hold.
The tradition
Hunters have long saved the ivories from an elk as a keepsake — cleaned, polished, and set into rings, pendants, and cufflinks that carry the memory of a particular animal and a particular fall. The teeth have a deep association with the fraternal Elks organization, the BPOE, in whose iconography they appear.
Both bulls and cows carry them — two each — so the ivories are one of the few things an elk wears regardless of sex, unlike the antlers only bulls grow. Note that the sale of elk ivory is regulated in some places; check local wildlife law before any commercial transaction.
Frequently asked
Elk ivories are two teeth — the upper canines — that are made of true ivory, the same class of material as elephant tusks. They're rounded, smooth, and prized, and unlike most teeth they're ivory rather than ordinary enamel-covered dentine. Hunters often keep them as keepsakes. They're also called 'whistlers,' 'buglers,' or 'tushes.'
The ivories are vestigial canine teeth — evolutionary leftovers from ancestral deer that had prominent tusks (like the musk deer and Chinese water deer still do). Over time, as antlers became the tool for display and combat, those tusks shrank to the small rounded ivories elk carry today. They serve no real function now; they're a remnant of the deer family's deeper past.
Yes — both bulls and cows have ivories, two each, in the upper jaw. A cow's ivories are present just like a bull's. This sets them apart from antlers, which only bulls grow. The ivories are one of the few features shared equally between the sexes.
They have keepsake and cultural value more than high market value. Hunters traditionally save the ivories from an elk and have them made into jewelry — rings, pendants, cufflinks — as a memento of the hunt. The teeth have a long association with the fraternal Elks organization (the BPOE). Selling elk ivory is regulated in places, so check local wildlife laws before any commercial sale.
Biologists estimate elk age by tooth wear and replacement and, more precisely, by counting cementum annuli — annual growth rings in a cross-section of a tooth, much like tree rings. The ivories themselves aren't the aging tool; the cheek teeth (molars and premolars) and cementum analysis are. It's far more accurate than counting antler points.
From the page to the field
Elk Glade guides bull elk on GMU 59 limited entry, on the south slope of Pikes Peak — inside the largest elk population on Earth. Archery, muzzleloader, and four rifle seasons.
