"Hippo ivory"

[kronckew]

hippo ivory comes mostly from their canine teeth and incisors, which are essentially huge tusks. they continue growing throughout the hippo's life, the lower canines wear against the uppers and keep them extremely sharp. more people are killed by them in africa than any other animal. you can see the flats where they wear, looks almost like someone cut them with a saw at an angle. they can open their mouths almost 180 degrees and a person fits nicely inside. tho herbivores they have been seen eating meat on occasion, usually cannibalistically (they don't eat people, just kill them). the males get very nasty during mating seasons, testosterone goes up to around 50 times normal (they're fairly grumpy even at normal levels).

rhino teeth are more normal herbivore teeth, more like a horses and unsuitable for making stuff. their horn is actually the item used by chinese idiots as 'medicine' -it's fused hair, chemically it's keratin, no different than your hair or finger nails and a lot cheaper if you want their 'medicinal' effects (none). makes dandy sword and dagger hilts for the arabs who still insist on spending small fortunes on equipping themselves with a real rhino horn grip on their mostly ceremonial sharp pointies., extinction is not on their minds. fibreglass or micarta would be better. or horn from other domesticated critters.

a set of hippo teeth: on a display rack & in place on a skull: