The Elephant and its Trunk

By: Aggrey Marami Click author's name for more of his/her articles

The elephant is the largest living land animal.There are two varieties: the African and the Asian elephant with differences in the overall size and the shape of the tip of the trunk.Both types live in family herds made up of up to twenty adult females and their young under the leadership of the oldest elephant ,the matriarch.The exception to this is the adult males who live lonely lives , joining a family group only when one of its mature adult female is ready to mate. Because of its size, the elephant has no natural enemies.

In this article I will restrict myself to the trunk because of its importance to the elephant.

An elephant can use its trunk to carry a tree, pick up a peanut, have a drink or take a shower.The Elephant trunk is the modified nose and upper lip lined with as many as forty plus individual muscles that allow it to bend and hold like an arm or hand. The fingure like projections at the very end of the trunk are sensitive enough to pick up objects as small as a single blade of grass. The African elephant differs from the Asian elephant at the tip of its trunk.The former has two lips while the latter has only one. The six main functions of the elephant trunk include:

Sucking: The Elephant trunk sucks up to fourteen litres of water then blows it into its mouth or sprays its body to keep cool. It can also suck in dust and spray its body to reduce the parasite load.

Feeding: The trunk is used to break off tree branches, pick off leaves and grass and even pluck fruits and put them into its mouth. For the elephant to feed, the trunk is indispensable.

As a sense organ , the trunk is used for smell and touch. The elephant has a strong sense of smell. Raising the trunk up and swaying it from side to side, it can determine the location of friends, enemies, and food sources, much like a periscope. To follow a track, an elephant sweeps its trunk over the ground like a metal detector. It also uses the tip of its trunk to investigate another's genitalia or mouth for clues about its identity, sex, age, and reproductive status.

Defence: The elephant defends itself by grasping and flinging the enemy using its trunk.

The trunk also plays a major role in social interactions such as play wrestling,caressing, during courtship and even in the mother baby relationship.

Communication: One of the many ways of communication in the rich elephant language is rumbles and trumpets.Humans can hear the trumpets but not the rumbles because they are low frequency infrasound.It is the trunk that produces these sounds, much like a wind instrument:

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: About the author: Dr Marami has special interest in culture and wild animals. To learn more and to view various wood and stone sculptures visit :=> ammarami.com