Most modern carvers try to limit themselves to the outer portion, and avoid showing the core of the tusk as much as possible. and looks as though it were made up of small crystals, When a cross-section of a tusk is held up to a bright light, this middle part is strongly translucent, in marked contrast to the opaque outer portion, As it is found only in walrus tusk, this strange core substance provides an easy clue for identification, immediately distinguishing it from any other kind of ivory. This core substance is slightly darker in color. Most of the interior of the tusk is composed of an inner core, made up of a secondary deposit of dentine which fills the original pulp cavity as the tooth grows longer. This outer part is plain in cross-section, lacking the fine intersecting lines that identify elephant ivory, but it forms a relatively thin layer. The record for the Northern Pacific variety is only slightly less.Ī newly-taken tusk has a white outer portion, which gradually turns yellow with age and exposure. The largest tusk known-from a Greenland walrus-measured 37 1⁄2 inches in length and weighed more than ten pounds. The tusks of a bull walrus quite often grow over two feet long, and those of the cows may be even longer, although the latter are much more slender. In spite of their great usefulness, the tusks finally became a serious liability to the walrus, because ivory hunters, during the last thousand years, have ruthlessly exterminated the once-great herds in their efforts to obtain the precious substance. In addition, they aid him in climbing up slippery rocks and crossing icy ledges. In the course of evolution, they became highly developed in this way for the purpose of digging out the clams and small shellfish that make up the animal’s principal food, and also to serve as weapons. The tusks of a walrus are really the greatly lengthened canine teeth of its upper jaw. Few people realize that, although the walrus itself is now limited to the extreme northern seas, it once ranged somewhat further south, and that-as we shall see-its ivory has traveled far afield since comparatively early times.
MOUNT AND BLADE VIKING CONQUEST WALRUS IVORY SKIN
The words may even conjure up a mental picture of short yellow men in fur clothing, spearing the huge sea mammals from slender skin boats, and later cutting out the long tusks to carve or engrave them in their spare time. When anyone mentions walrus ivory, we immediately think of small Eskimo carvings from the northernmost parts of the world.