I was looking at the nice tusk display posted on the taxidermy forum and it prompted my response that should I ever get the opportunity for a bull I would have the whole skull sent back to hold the tusks.

That got me to thinking, surly there are some impressive bones throughout an elephant. Who of you have brought bones home, similarly to giraffe leg bones, for display or art work?

I can't imagine a vertebrae because I have never seen one from an elephant but it must be quite impressive and architectural looking.

Leg bones? The femur must be immense....

I got a Bull Elephant 3 months ago, and I will be getting the skull, and the femur, I almost did not get the skull due to the shiping cost, but I did not want to regret it after I get home,so I went for it.

JR

A single molar is mighty impressive. Just about everyone who sees one knows it's a huge tooth that could only come from an elephant.

Bill Quimby

I brought home the skull and tusks from my elephant, but it never occurred to me to bring a femur home.

The after having my photos developed I realized what a mistake I had made. Adding insult to injury was the fact that I had shot my loin off the elephant's legs that we had hung as bait.

I have never had anything mounted(except for euro mounts) and I'm not big on trophies, but I really wish that I could get one or those femurs back.....

Ann,

Brought back two molars and half a dozen vertebrae from an elephant shot in the Mamili Reserve in the Caprivi Strip.

Gave my astonished dentist one of the teeth, but had not had it coated in resin so it's been slowly crumbling. The other tooth is resin-coated and sits on a coffee table made of a walnut plank and using two tusks from my second elephant as the base.

I hunted the second ele in the same area of the Mamili and thought of recovering the vertebrae from the earlier bull. So, I cranked up the GPS and we went right to the spot. Vertebrae were nicely cleaned, but mostly together if a bit chewed on...

Regards, Tim

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
Adding insult to injury was the fact that I had shot my loin off the elephant's legs that we had hung as bait.

WOW, bet that hurt!

Neat stuff, guys....

We have a bleached ele skull, giraffe skull, rhino skull and hippo skull in our backyard amongst the flora. Quite the conversation pieces for house guests, especially in the summer time with pool parties!

I think a skull with tusks would be a great display as an alternate to a shoulder mount or just the tusks.

I would imagine it would be difficult to clean all the marrow from the large leg bones? Not sure how that is done over there other than to let the bugs eat it. Perhaps a hole could be drilled to help in cleaning them out.

I would not want to keep them outside without sealing them somehow to prevent them breaking down over time from the weather and sun.

Whale vertabrae make interesting abstract art pieces so elephant ones should also .
Once when I went to the dentist for regular check-up I asked 'could you put this tooth back ?' and handed him a sperm whale tooth .He was a bit shaken .An elephant tooth would work even better !

Grafton,

The large leg bones have no marrow. They are solid bone.

Jr

From a good friend of mine and Safari-lawyer.





It's a lot more awesome up close.

quote:

Originally posted by JCS271:

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
Adding insult to injury was the fact that I had shot my loin off the elephant's legs that we had hung as bait.

WOW, bet that hurt!

Not sure if I understand the ""

Maybe I did not state it correctly. The leg bones would have been more that a simple conversation piece as they played an integral role in my taking a loin.

"Not sure if I understand..."

I think he was referring to the fact that a misspelling left you shooting your own loin.

Bill Quimby

My girlfriend has been keen to do some sort of "installation art" for a while. She was with me in Zim last year and when we were skinning my buffalo she quietly asked the camp manager: "so what about the bones?"

The camp manager's wife politely agreed to clean the skeleton and send the bones with the trophies.

A few days later and another trophy off to the skinning shed and some time later my PH comes over to me, beaming from ear to ear. Apprently the camp manager's wife had come over to him and quietly hispered in his ear: "My dear please tell them they can't have the f*$%ing bones!".

Anyhow, it is a bit of work for your safari operator, but they were imported and listed on the paperwork as "37 buffalo bones".

I'd bring whatever you think you may like. I like the bones myself and there is some great artwork out there. I've just got mine, so I'll post what's done with them in a few years I suspect!

Thinking about how some of the European churches have made such interesting use of bones in the past. I love bones they are a great way to teach people about the physiology of animals.

Take a bear skull and show a non hunter where the jaw muscles are located to illustrate the force they can bite with. Or how the nasal passages are constructed in order to increase surface area of the scent receptor cells. That kind of stuff is cool.

What about a table with elephant leg bones, or a lamp with an articulated ostridge leg. An elephant shoulder blade with the map of Africa on it?

Additionally these are items that will last for generations longer than taxidermy mounted animals. Finally if they are scrimshawed they might have high value to your future generations as "folk art."

And then there's the matter of "safari kitsch" which is an easy line to cross.

Took a cape buffalo that did not have a solid boss. Unacceptable to mount it, so I sawed the horns off, designed a simple silver cradle, put a silver ring around mid-horn and use them as drinking horns (hold 16 oz of beer). Worked fine.

Shot a Hartmann's zebra and had the hooves turned into pencil holders. Worked OK...

I've a number of brass cast critter footprints that serve as ashtrays. Very nice. Then shot an eland and asked that the hooves be turned into ashtrays. Vision was of the hoof scalloped out, sort of simple. What I got was the full hoof and part of the leg with a copper ashtray such as you probably hammered out in cub scouts mounted on top of the short length of leg. Not a sucess.

On the other hand, there's no arguing taste, I suppose....

Regards

I think we need to see a pic of the silver and horn cups.

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:
"Not sure if I understand..."

I think he was referring to the fact that a misspelling left you shooting your own loin.

Bill Quimby

Bill
Your editing skills are intact! Thanks for clarifing that for me.

BTW, did you see that I misspelled it in my reply also? I think I leave it as it will remind me that I need to proofread before I hit "post now".

Elephant leg bones are solid I believe.

Mike

quote:

Took a cape buffalo that did not have a solid boss. Unacceptable to mount it, so I sawed the horns off, designed a simple silver cradle, put a silver ring around mid-horn and use them as drinking horns (hold 16 oz of beer). Worked fine.

Hope you cleaned them out very well. The horns are treated with god knows what kind of insecticide in Africa...You may get more than a beer buzz!