# What do zoos do with discarded elephant teeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910 "2017-03-11T00:26:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/1 "2017-03-11T00:26:18Z")
I asked on Reddit but I’ll ask here, too. Are they sent for some kind of testing? Do they end up as paperweights on somebody’s desk? Since they are ivory, can they be legally sold or given to artists who work with that material? What’s the Straight Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/2 "2017-03-11T00:41:34Z")
I asked Sea World the same question about penguin cadavers. They _said_ they give them to museums, schools, and other worthy institutions, but I really suspect they simply ash-can a lot of them. This is a bummer, 'cause I want one. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/3 "2017-03-11T00:56:55Z")
I believe there is a place down south where you can pick up penguin corpses for the asking. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/4 "2017-03-11T00:58:27Z")
Trade in non-antique ivory is banned in the UK and trade in unworked ivory is completely banned. **[Cite](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-ban-on-modern-day-ivory-sales)** ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/5 "2017-03-11T03:54:16Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > I believe there is a place down south where you can pick up penguin corpses for the asking. This might be one of those things you didn’t know you needed until it became available. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/6 "2017-03-11T04:06:24Z")
According to this, tusks are not teeth. > **[The Truth About Tusks](https://www.thedodo.com/the-truth-about-tusks-648225506.html)** > > The Dodo serves up emotionally and visually compelling, highly sharable animal-related stories and videos to help make caring about animals a viral cause. My cursory Google search does not imply that elephant teeth are any more valuable than any other teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/7 "2017-03-11T04:51:49Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > According to this, tusks are not teeth. > > [The Truth About Tusks - The Dodo](https://www.thedodo.com/the-truth-about-tusks-648225506.html) That’s not what that page says. It says (correctly) that tusks are very specialized teeth. Tusks are teeth, but not all teeth are tusks (to use the phrasing used on the page). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/8 "2017-03-11T05:15:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > According to this, tusks are not teeth. Tusks are by definition teeth. > [@](#): > > My cursory Google search does not imply that elephant teeth are any more valuable than any other teeth. That’s the problem with Google searches: they often yield completely wrong information. Elephant ivory from tusks is far more valuable than most teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/9 "2017-03-11T06:29:42Z")
I’m talking about their molars, not their tusks. Although I wonder what happens to the tusks now, too. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/10 "2017-03-11T06:32:31Z")
Now that I read that link, I know that molars are not ivory. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/11 "2017-03-11T12:41:39Z")
I donno, but I really wish I had some elephant teeth, and those of other large animals, like the [giant-ass hippo teeth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Hippo_skull_dark.jpg). (Okay, I’d rather have mounted full skeletons, but there would be a bit of a space issue, especially with the sperm whale.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/12 "2017-03-11T16:45:56Z")
[What happens to zoo animals when they die?](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/01/where_do_zoo_animals_go_when_they_die.html) > [@](#): > > Veterinarians at the National Zoo put down two animals this week: an arthritic, 40-year-old elephant named Toni and a 13-year-old cheetah with kidney problems named Wandu. What happens to zoo animals when they die? > > First, a necropsy is performed, and then the remains are cremated. … After the necropsy, Toni’s carcass—which weighs thousands of pounds—was shipped to a lab in College Park, Md., where it will be incinerated starting Friday. The process should take about 24 hours. Since there is now a [near-total ban on the sale of ivory](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/us-ivory-ban-regulations/) in the United States, the tusks will either be burned along with the rest of the carcass (yes, they burn), be retained by the zoo for educational purposes, or be donated to a museum or other scientific or educational organizations. The teeth would undoubtedly be burned (or crushed after cremation is they still remain), or otherwise disposed of, not given away or sold. (But the question in the OP about whether they might be given to artists seems to be based on the idea that elephant molars might be ivory, which they are not.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/13 "2017-03-11T23:39:57Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Now that I read that link, I know that molars are not ivory. Ignorance fought! That’s where I was coming from when I said that tusks were not teeth. Just last night, I was reading about old-time nostrums, and someone compared the medicinal value of rhinoceros horn to that of fingernail clippings. Good analogy, too, because they’re both made of the same material - keratin. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/14 "2017-03-12T00:19:49Z")
All mammal teeth are Ivory, even human teeth. Or maybe contain ivory is a better way to put it? The ivory is the dentin, tusks have no enamel and the dentin is more organic than in our teeth. With all the modern materials available, what is it about ivory that people still want to kill elephants for just 2 teeth? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/15 "2017-03-12T08:29:40Z")
Well, if you have someone like my Dad on the staff, they get borrowed, taken home and handed to a 6 year old who gets told to “Stick it under your pillow, see how much the tooth fairy gives you for _this_ one!” :rolleyes: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/16 "2017-03-12T15:53:13Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Well, if you have someone like my Dad on the staff, they get borrowed, taken home and handed to a 6 year old who gets told to “Stick it under your pillow, see how much the tooth fairy gives you for _this_ one!” :rolleyes: 😃 [Johnny Olson/]A new car![/Johnny Olson] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/17 "2017-03-12T17:18:09Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > All mammal teeth are Ivory, even human teeth. > Or maybe contain ivory is a better way to put it? Probably better to say that ivory is made of a variety of the same material (dentin) found in other mammalian teeth. “Ivory” specifically refers to teeth that are large enough to be of commercial value. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/18 "2017-03-12T19:21:47Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > . . . With all the modern materials available, what is it about ivory that people still want to kill elephants for just 2 teeth? Ivory is wonderfully smooth for carving. It really feels _good_ to work with. But…the same is true of many kinds of synthetic materials, and of wood, and of soapstone. So, yeah: there are plenty of very good alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/19 "2017-03-12T19:26:58Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Ivory is wonderfully smooth for carving. It really feels _good_ to work with. > > But…the same is true of many kinds of synthetic materials, and of wood, and of soapstone. So, yeah: there are plenty of very good alternatives. There are various kinds of [“vegetable ivory,”](http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljan99.htm) mainly the seeds of palms. Their major drawback is their size; you can’t carve large objects from them. They are great, however, for small items. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910/20 "2017-03-12T19:58:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are various kinds of [“vegetable ivory,”](http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljan99.htm) mainly the seeds of palms. Their major drawback is their size; you can’t carve large objects from them. They are great, however, for small items. What exactly is being made now days from Ivory that induces a huge demand though? Things i know of that used to be Ivory have not been so for ages and are now made from materials that wear longer, do not stain, and do not break as easily. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-zoos-do-with-discarded-elephant-teeth/781910.md?page=2)