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An elephant trunk contains around 150,000 separate muscle fibers in it. There are no bones in an elephant’s trunk. An elephant can lift 4.5 % of its weight with its trunk.
[28] [49] The trunk of an adult Asian elephant is capable of retaining 8.5 L (2.2 US gal) of water. [43] They will also sprinkle dust or grass on themselves. [28] When underwater, the elephant uses its trunk as a snorkel. [50] The trunk also acts as a sense organ. Its sense of smell may be four times greater than a bloodhound's nose. [51]
The trunk is a prehensile elongation of its upper lip and nose. This highly sensitive organ is innervated primarily by the trigeminal nerve, and is thought to be manipulated by about 40,000–60,000 muscles. Because of this muscular structure, the trunk is so strong that elephants can use it to lift about 3% of their own body weight.
The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is a species of elephant distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west to Borneo in the east, and Nepal in the north to Sumatra in the south. Three subspecies are recognised—E. m. maximus, E. m. indicus and E. m. sumatranus.
The African elephant’s trunk has two distinct lips that are used for grabbing and holding things, while an Asian elephant’s trunk has but a single lip on the top that they use to grab things.
The trunk is also used for greeting other elephants and communication of emotions such as excitement, competition, dominance, discipline, reassurance etc. [10] An elephant has a large brain which weighs between 4–6 kg (8.8–13.2 lb). It is a highly intelligent animal with a great capacity to learn new things.
A portrait of an African elephant, highlighting its trunk. The trunk, which contains some 150,000 muscle fascicles, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip with a unique nerve running along both sides. An elephant can use its trunk for power functions, such as lifting up to 350 kg (770 lb), or more delicate functions, such as wiping its eye.
An elephant never forgets might be an exaggeration, but elephants actually have the largest brains of all land mammals. An adult elephant’s weighty brain reaches nearly 11 pounds- that’s 8 ...