The elephant is the largest land animal and has no natural
enemies.They live in family herds comprising 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 are solitary nomads attracted
to a family group only when one of its mature adults or
"cows" is ready to mate. They are found in Africa and Asia.
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. It is also so sensitive that it
can pick up a single blade of grass. The trunk of an
African Elephant has two lips at the end while that of the
Asian Elephant has only an upper one. The Elephant trunk is
multifunctional with six main roles, namely:
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. The Elephant's mouth would be useless
without the trunk.
As a sense organ, the elephant trunk is its "fingure" as
well as its nose. The elephant has a very well developed
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.The former
is low frequency infrasound while the later is audible to
humans.It is the trunk that produces these sounds, much
like a wind instrument:
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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 :=>
http://ammarami.com
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