Rare elephant pearl recovered from poachers

The Bangalore police apprehended two poachers and recovered from them a rare elephant pearl along with a pair of tusks.

Acting on a tip-off, the Bangalore police arrested two youths on Seshadri Road in the City when they were trying to sell the elephant pearl popularly known as “Gajamuthu” and a pair of tusks that had been concealed in a bag.

The elephant pearl, which is in the shape and size of a hen’s egg, is expected to fetch a whopping amount in the international market, police officials said.

The ivory tusks seized from the poachers weighs around 10 kgs. “The notional value of the recovered items is estimated to be more than Rs 3 million”, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bangalore West, Shivakumar told reporters.

Investigations had revealed that the poachers Siddaraju, 23, and Shivakumar, 25, had purchased the tusks and the elephant pearl from a native of Hogenakkal situated on Karnataka’s border with Tamil Nadu.

Police officials said the slain forest bandit Veerappan also used to search for the elephant pearls whenever he used to poach elephants. The Gajamuthu was a rare finding and used to command a huge price in the international market.

Experts claimed that the elephant pearl is found within the cavity of tusks and is a rare bony growth.
Prof R Sukumar of Centre for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), described the elephant pearl as an “anomalous growth” taking place in the elephant’s tusk due to an injury or a reaction.