Ladies and Gentlemen,

A king member of the Forum has emailed me this photo, and asked me to post it here for your enjoyment.



The elephant was killed near Mt Killimanjaro in East Africa. The Arab hunter trailed it for several weeks. They were sold in Zanzibar in 1898. The heavier of the tusks ( on the left) is 3.11 metres (10ft 2- 1/2") long and weighs 94 kilos or 207 lbs. The other tusk is 3.18 metres ( 10ft 5") and weighs 89 kilos or 196 lbs. To give you an idea how big they are from the floor to the top of the display board is 6ft.
I hope you enjoy

[ 07-02-2003, 15:05: Message edited by: Saeed ]

Saeed,

Where are those displayed at?

Seems like they could build a nicer display too, to show scale.

Did you get my email last week?

Saeed,

Those are huge! However, I thought the largest tusks were over 200 lbs each and killed by a tracker around the late 1800's.

These are the ones I think Longbob has in mind. Are they the same pair?? They are said to be 214 & 226 lbs. Perhaps a distinction is being made between poached vrs hunted or loss of weight due to age and drying out.


[ 07-02-2003, 16:04: Message edited by: Nickudu ]

Gentlemen,

These are in the British Natural History Museum, in London. I understand one has to make a prior arrangement to view them.

Hopefully the gentlemen who sent the photo to me will post and throw some light on this.

They are on public display at the British Natural History Museum exactly as in the photo. No prior arrangement necessary to view them. At least that was how it was last year when I saw them.

These are huge tusks!

But look in the background, that is a huge thing. Blue Whale!

Sorry , hit the wrong button on the last post.....
I meant to add on my last post, that in order to view the Selous collection , and other trophies gifted to the Museum by Big game hunters,it has to be arranged privately, and will cost �80 an hour.
DJ.

Those are sure king-sized tusks---but what's a king member on this forum?

Nick,

I wasn't under the impression that the one the tracker took was poached.

This is the story behind the picture that Nick posted. I really don't think they would allow them to be the Number 1 tusks if they were poached. Of course, as he suggested, they could be the same tusks and now they are dried out. Thus the weight difference. Sorry, Saeed. The Arab didn't bag this one.

"These world-record tusks were taken from an elephant shot near Mount Kilimanjaro in 1898 by an African slave of the ivory trader Shunti, a Zanzibar Arab.

Major tusk
Weight: 226 lbs.
Length: 10 ft., 2� in.
Circumference: 24� in.

Minor tusk
Weight: 214 lbs.
Length: 10 ft., 5� in.
Circumference: 23� in.

The exact circumstances under which this elephant was killed are unclear. Shunti was an Arab living in Zanzibar. He dealt in ivory and slaves. It is thought that he sent out some of his slaves, armed with muskets, to roam the East African coast in search of ivory. One of his slaves came across this great bull elephant and killed it in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. The head is currently listed in Rowland Ward in the number one spot."

Back in 1987 my wife and I were killing some time in London on a 24 hour plus layover on the way to Ethiopia. We went to the museum . It was a Saturday and the place was overrun with school kids. I asked a very bored guard if it was true that the large tusks were on display there. At the time they were not but he (obviously looking for an escape from the mayhem) offered to take us to the tusks. They were about 3 floors down in a controlled temp/humidity basement room. Not only could we "view" the tusks, but we actually were allowed to run our hands the length of the fantastic ivory. Gives me goosebumps now just remembering.

Rich Elliott

[ 07-02-2003, 19:08: Message edited by: Rich Elliott ]

I made the pilgrimage in April; they are in the �Large Mammals� section of the British Museum of Natural History. There is a full mount of a Blue Whale in the same room!!! To stand in front of them is truly awe inspiring�

I first ran across a reference to the tusks in Capstick�s �Death in the Long Grass�. Capstick gives further information in �Death in The Dark Contentment�. In addition, another story of the tusks is given in a book on Tipu Tip that I picked up in Dar in 01.

Brett

There's always been some doubt that these two tusks were taken from the same Elephant. PHC discusses it in one of his books and although I'm dragging this up from memory, (so please excuse it if I'm wrong!) I believe he says that one was purchased in it's country of origin (Tanganyika) whilst the other was bought from somewhere in the UK sometime later. (If I remember correctly, it was a cutlery manufacturer in Sheffield?)

When I had the chance to handle them a few years ago I decided that it's a good possibility that there were from different animals........ having said that, I'm no expert, but the grain did feel different and the shape and colour differed somewhat. I'd welcome the opinion of any real experts out there who have seen & handled them.

If anyone has a day or two to spare in the UK the Powell Cotton Museum at Quex House in Birchington in Kent is well worth a visit..... the hunting trophies are quite simply fabulous!!!.... but phone before you go as they are not always open to the public.

So are the tusks pictured by Nickudu the same as those pictured by Saeed?

Can't help you there I'm afraid. I've seen Nickudu's photo before, but don't know where. Incidentally I've now found the reference that PHC made to these tusks and it's on pages 135-140 (ish) of Death in the Dark Continent. PHC thought that the tusks did come from the same Elephant, but for what it's worth, I have my doubts. I guess the only way to be sure would be to convince the Natural History Museum to do a DNA test, but I doubt they would be interested.

Incidentally, the last time I was there, I also conned (sorry, pursuaded) them into giving me a tour of some of their storage areas.......... boy, some of the trophies they have there would re-write the record books if they ever got entered!

There used to be another huge set framing the doorway to Gordons Palace in Khartoum - I don't know if they're still there, but they were in the early '70s. There were also two of the longest handled Dinka guards I've ever seen, keeping their eye on things, who wouldn't let us check the tusks out real close (they made the Enfields they held look like Red Ryder BB guns!)....the story I heard was that General Gordon had a habit of charging tolls from the ivory hunters for using 'his' river. and the tusks were acquired that way, after originating from somewhere up the Nile. I wonder if the tusks are still there? Those Dinkas looked to be about 7', and the tusks were a lot bigger than they were!