Feeding in the Swamp!
Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. Their trunks are perhaps the most sensitive organ found in any mammal.
Breathing, drinking, and eating are all vital functions of the trunk. Most breathing is performed through the trunk rather than the mouth. Elephants drink by sucking as much as 10 litres (2.6 gallons) of water into the trunk and then squirting it into the mouth. They eat by detaching grasses, leaves, and fruit with the end of the trunk and using it to place this vegetation into the mouth. The trunk is also used to collect dust or grass for spraying onto themselves, presumably for protection against insect bites and the sun. If danger is suspected, elephants raise and swivel the trunk as if it were “an olfactory periscope,” possibly sniffing the air for information.
This handsome Bull Elephant (Loxodanta africana) was captured, on a photography safari on alate evening game drive, resting his trunk on his tusks while feeding in the swamps of Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
Feeding in the Swamp!
Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. Their trunks are perhaps the most sensitive organ found in any mammal.
Breathing, drinking, and eating are all vital functions of the trunk. Most breathing is performed through the trunk rather than the mouth. Elephants drink by sucking as much as 10 litres (2.6 gallons) of water into the trunk and then squirting it into the mouth. They eat by detaching grasses, leaves, and fruit with the end of the trunk and using it to place this vegetation into the mouth. The trunk is also used to collect dust or grass for spraying onto themselves, presumably for protection against insect bites and the sun. If danger is suspected, elephants raise and swivel the trunk as if it were “an olfactory periscope,” possibly sniffing the air for information.
This handsome Bull Elephant (Loxodanta africana) was captured, on a photography safari on alate evening game drive, resting his trunk on his tusks while feeding in the swamps of Amboseli National Park, Kenya.