In what might seem a world away from the savannahs, plains and forests that elephants inhabit, museums around the world are faced with their own ethical issue: the nowadays contentious (and frequently copious) historic elephant ivory artworks in their collections.

But a recent study exposed the media reaction as not only fleeting, but also failing to reach the intended global demographics of consumers, dealers, poachers and traffickers (Braczkowski et al. The event caused a dramatic spike in online, print and social media support for its message against the resurgence in poaching and the ivory trade that has seen African elephant populations plummet over the previous decade (Chase et al. On April 30, 2016, the largest ivory burn in history took place in Kenya. In highlighting the potential of museum ivory as a vehicle for conservation education we highlight the need for heightened holistic collaboration across disciplines to ensure that conservation messages reach diverse audiences in novel and impactful ways. In placing a useful lens on these currently controversial artworks, museum ivory would be endowed with a new critical relevance as educational ambassadors for contemporary conservation issues, simultaneously offering justification for the preservation and display of these historic artworks that many museums are presently reluctant to exhibit. This article explores the potential of ivory artworks as educational ambassadors, as well as the international reach of museums to target demographics in key ivory consumer regions such as South East Asia, and the ethical obligations of museums with ivory collections to participate in conservation education. This prompts us to suggest an alternative to the destruction of museum ivory: that art museums with ivory collections take on the challenge and responsibility of imparting powerful conservation messages. But analysis of media reactions to the parallel strategy of burning modern ivory stockpiles may offer insight to the likely effectiveness of that course of action in museums: such burns have seemingly fallen short in sending a clear and enduring message to the intended demographics-be this consumers, dealers, poachers or traffickers. Ivory in art museum collections has been a contentious topic during recent years, with some parties calling for its destruction.

Ivory by Keith Somerville