My new fascination with elephants continues. Here are some interesting things I’ve learned about elephant anatomy!
The trunk is pretty amazing. It is actually an extension of the upper lip of the elephant. The shape and length varies from one elephant to another — some have trunks that reach the ground and some don’t. The tip of the trunk is a very sensitive organ that is used much like humans use their hands. The trunk is used for picking up objects but is also used for breathing, sucking up water, and spraying water to cool the body. Imagine if you could breathe, smell, and drink through your hands!
The ears help the elephant regulate body temperature. The blood coming into the ears can be as much as one degree hotter than the blood leaving the ear and returning to the rest of the body! You can judge the approximate age of an elephant by the amount of fold on the ear. After the age of ten, the ear begins to fold in about an inch every thirty years. Because the skin of the ears is very thin, elephant caretakers often use the veins in the ears for injecting medications and other treatments.
An elephant’s eyes are relatively small and their vision is poor. However, they do have a special third eyelid that protects the pupil.
A few facts about an elephant’s mouth:
- Tusks are modified incisors from the upper jaw.
- One third of the tusk is embedded in the skull; only two-thirds of the tusk is visible from the outside.
- An elephant only has four teeth — all molars — at any given time. The first set of teeth appears when the elephant is a year old. The teeth are replaced several times during an elephant’s life: at age six, age nine, age twenty-five, age fifty, and one hundred.
- An elephant cannot stick out its tongue.
- The trunk places food onto the tongue and the tongue folds the fold backwards into the throat.