Poachers kill elephants for their tusks because the tusks provide ivory, a valuable material traded on illegal markets. Ivory is the dense, hard dentine that makes up most of an elephant’s tusk.
Elephant tusks are actually greatly enlarged incisor teeth. They grow throughout an elephant’s life and are used for digging, stripping bark, moving objects, fighting, and displaying strength. Because tusks can be carved into ornaments, statues, jewelry, and other luxury goods, they have attracted traders for centuries.
Poaching can be especially destructive because elephants are killed even when only the tusks are wanted. African elephants of both sexes may have tusks, while Asian elephant tusks are generally found mainly in males. Removing a tusk is not harmless: it is connected to the skull and contains nerves and blood vessels near its base.
International restrictions, including the CITES ivory-trade ban adopted in 1989, reduced legal international trade, but criminal trafficking continues. The demand for ivory remains a major threat to wild elephant populations.