Abstract
Captive and wild African elephants frequently suffer tusk fractures. Several institutions shorten the tusks of captive elephants to reduce fractures and injury as a result of behaviour within enclosures. Fracturing or coronal amputations that expose pulp lead to pain for the elephant. Estimating coronal pulp lengths may thus help to minimise the risk of pulp exposure during amputations. We aimed to determine the length of the pulp beyond the lip margin from an external tusk characteristic. Tusks collected from elephants in Namibia and the Kruger National Park had similar morphological relationships. This statistical property allowed us to correct for missing data in our data sets. Pulp volume and pulp length correlated with tusk circumference at the lip. Even so, the circumference at the lip could not predict the length of the pulp in the crown external to the lip. Our findings suggest that tusks, irrespective of sex or age, amputated further than 300 mm from the lip should not expose pulp.
Highlights
Tusks are the only maxillary incisors present in African elephants (Loxodonta africana)
The growth rate of tusks varies between the sexes with males having large tusks that increases in size, while females have smaller tusks of which the growth rate decreases at the time of puberty[12]
The outer mineralised layer of a tusk is ivory, which comprises dentin not covered by enamel
Summary
Tusks are the only maxillary incisors present in African elephants (Loxodonta africana). These incisors are continuously growing teeth (elodont teeth) with an open apex[6]. The growth rate of tusks varies between the sexes with males having large tusks that increases in size, while females have smaller tusks of which the growth rate decreases at the time of puberty[12]. The outer mineralised layer of a tusk is ivory, which comprises dentin not covered by enamel. Ivory has a unique pattern on a cut section. Enamel is only present for a short period when the permanent tusk erupts[14]. The ivory protects the pulp of the tusk which consists of numerous blood vessels, lymphatic and neural tissue, bound in a loosely arranged connective tissue stroma[2,23]
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