Elephant Head with False Teeth
"Is it a real Elephant's head?" visitors often ask. "Yes, but only partially” is the answer. Only the skin, or rather, the skin and hair, of our African elephant head is real. On closer inspection, one can see not only the hairs but also the suture that holds the scalp together from the end of the trunk to the neck. Beneath the scalp lies part of the skull bone and part plaster, which makes the entire object weigh almost 50 kilograms. It is impossible to determine from the outside exactly where bone and plaster lie beneath the skin; for that, the entire specimen would need to be X-rayed. Visible, but not real, are the eyes (glass), the tongue (some kind of plastic material), and the tusks (wood).
We only have records of origin and date for a few of our specimens. Unfortunately, there is also a gap in our knowledge regarding this elephant head.
Provenance research yielded only the discovery of an old glass slide in the archive's image collection. This photograph, perhaps over a hundred years old, shows our elephant's head, but with different tusks. Could the tusks visible in this photo be the real, original ones? When were they replaced by the current wooden tusks, and why? Where did the ivory go?
The tusks of the African elephant are true all-rounders. Elephants use their tusks to dig for roots, tubers, and water, especially during dry seasons. They are like tools, used to peel bark, break branches, or even knock down small trees to get leaves and fruit.
Tusks also serve as protection against enemies, such as lions. Bull elephants, in particular, use them in displays of dominance and fights to demonstrate strength. Large, strong tusks are considered a sign of health—this can play a role in mate selection.
Elephant tusks are elongated ivory incisors; they continue to grow throughout an elephant's life and can easily weigh over 200 kilograms each. This is precisely what makes elephants such targets for poaching – a major conservation problem. Consequently, museums that display ivory have a security issue. Ivory consists primarily of dentin, the same material that makes up the base of our teeth beneath the enamel.
The Mission Museum displays another elephant head on the staircase leading to the basement, in this case the skull of a young African elephant, without tusks, of course.
The fact that a museum, in our case a missionary collection, displays elephants that were apparently shot specifically for exhibition naturally raises questions today. It is important to remember that all our taxidermied animals are well over 100 years old, meaning their deaths occurred during a time when they were not only common but when hunting was also commonplace, including the killing of large game and antelopes for trophies and venison, as well as the killing of predators to protect people and livestock. Elephants were also hunted because they graze and devastate the fields.
