I may be a dead mammoth but my tusks go marching on

I cant think of anything topical to muse on today, so will return to my hobby of pocket knives. In my last article I was talking of the myriad materials used to embellish the handles of these little works of art and I mentioned mammoth ivory. It may seem strange to think of using such an esoteric substance but nevertheless some cutlers do , and there are reasons both logical and romantic for doing so.
  Firstly there is the prohibition of using elephant ivory. CITES ( Convention International against Trade in Endangered Species ) limits very severely the use of ivory which endangers the survival of the elephant. Mammoth ivory is not concerned and is bizarrely classified as a mineral! Certainly its use does not endanger species the damage being done some ten thousand years ago by the heating of the climate after the last ice age. Incidentally, the bleeding hearts who say wicked mankind is responsible for all bad things will have difficulty in putting this climate change at humanity`s door. The invention of the camp fire by a few thousand Neanderthals? Hmm, not very likely!  It appears that there is no shortage of mammoth ivory, as tusks and even whole mammoths emerge regularly from the permafrost, though the supply is of course finite.
    The second reason for using it is romantic. What glamour in having a fine knife covered with this most ancient of materials.  There is even a theory that this ivory, having spent 10,000 years buried near the Pole has soaked up magnetism which is beneficial to humans. It`s expensive of course and only found in quality pieces. I have to confess I don`t possess one...
  As to appearance,  mammoth ivory is similar to the elephant sort but has a brownish or more rarely bluish tint  due to iron or copper in the soil in which it was buried. Cutlers like to include some of the outer crust to give interest to the handle
        That`s all for now, I hope you found it interesting.