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Asked by ilish to Hannah, Joanna, Joe, Luis, Vincent on 16 Jun 2016.
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Joanna Bagniewska answered on 16 Jun 2016:
Elephants’ trunks are their noses – but they are more than just a really long shnoz. They serve a number of functions. They can be used for lifting things – I’ve seen elephants pull trees out of the ground with their trunks, flip them over and chew on their roots. They’re used for touching and communicating with other animals – elephants can use them to pet and stroke elephants that they like, and slap ones they don’t get along with. They also use trunks to pump up water, and then lift that into their mouths to drink (eww! Nose water!). The tips of the trunks are very dexterous, because of small, finger-like bits that are on them; this means that the elephants can pick very small, fine things off the ground – which is not what you’d expect from such a bit animal. Interestingly, the tips of the trunks of African and Asian elephants differ – African elephants have two “fingers”, and Asian elephants just one.
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Hannah Grist answered on 16 Jun 2016:
Isn’t that the beginning of a joke? Is the answer “so they can go on holiday?!
Elephants trunks are pretty unusual. The trunks are basically a big nose, joined together with the top lip. There aren’t many animals that have anything similar, so there must be a good reason for them.
One reason we think they have trunks is because they are so big and heavy. It is very difficult to bend down to the ground to get water or food, so the trunk is a way to get all those things without having to move. They can’t use hands or feet to do that like we do, because they need all their feet to hold their weight. Quite sensible really!
Another good reason is that elephants are vegetarian. It takes a huge huge amount of leaves to keep an elephant going, again because they are so ginormous. By having a trunk separate to a mouth, it means they can be chewing on leaves with their mouth, and picking more with the trunk. Then they never have to stop eating!
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Joe Nunez-Mino answered on 21 Jun 2016:
What a great question! Animals have evolved different bits of their bodies to help them survive where they live. Trunks probably evolved slowly over time, there are some animals, such as tapirs, that have mini trunks.
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