Scientists Have Discovered Why Elephant Trunks Are So Wrinkly, With The Wrinkles Being Linked To Their Preferences For Bending Right Or Left
The many wrinkles on elephant trunks do not just give the large creatures character—they serve an actual practical purpose, as most things in nature do.
A team of scientists from multiple disciplines has conducted an investigation into why elephant trunks are so wrinkly.
They discovered that the wrinkles contribute to an individual elephant’s preference for bending its trunk to the right or the left.
Previous research has shown that the elephant trunk is made up of around 46,000 muscles. It can be turned, twisted, and bent.
Its tip can also be maneuvered, acting as a hand for grabbing food. Elephants have wrinkles on most parts of their bodies, but they are particularly prominent on their trunks and legs.
To learn more about the development and purpose of wrinkles on the trunk, the research team examined Asian and African elephants. They looked at photographs, museum specimens, and live individuals in zoos.
The photographs were of adult elephants and fetuses still in the womb. By placing the photos in chronological order, the scientists were able to track the development of wrinkles. The team found that wrinkles develop in the womb, and more are gained with age.
Since the trunk wrinkles form before birth, this suggests a specific purpose for them. The trunk wrinkles might be necessary for elephants’ abilities to lift objects and perform flexible movements.
Furthermore, during observations of the elephants, the scientists noticed that elephants have right or left “trunkedness,” just as humans can be right- or left-handed.
peterfodor – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual elephant
In the study, the groups of elephants that were analyzed had a nearly even split of right- and left-trunkedness.
A right-trunked elephant was more likely to curl its trunk to the right to pick up objects, while a left-trunked elephant preferred to bend the other way.
The elephants’ preferences resulted in physical adaptations to their trunks. In right-trunked elephants, there were more wrinkles on the right side of their trunks, and left-trunked elephants had more on their left side. Their whiskers were also affected.
For instance, elephants that tended to curl their trunks to the right continuously scuffed their left-side whiskers on the ground when picking up an object. As a result, the whiskers on their left side were much shorter due to the curling direction.
“The whisker length difference is big and prominent,” said Michael Brecht, a co-author of the study and a computational neuroscientist at Humboldt University in Berlin.
“The wrinkle effect is more subtle but still significant. It indicates that wrinkle patterns are at least partially use-dependent.”
The team also noted the differences in wrinkles between Asian and African elephants. Asian elephant trunks have an average of 126 major wrinkles on the upper side, while African elephants have about 83.
Since Asian elephants have more wrinkles, they might need more trunk flexibility than African elephants.
The new research has implications for the field of robotics and engineering. It could help contribute to the development of soft robots for disaster responses.
The study was published in Royal Society Open Science.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Animals
Read This Next
