What Are Elephant Trunks Used For
The elephant trunk serves many purposes and one of them is drinking. Welcome to the home of elephants enthusiasts! We aim to publish insightful and interesting facts about elephants and how to see them in their natural habitat. Read our about us page to understand our mission and who's contributing to this website. Olivia Garcia is originally from Texas.
Calves will suck water into their trunks and spray each other playfully. Elephants also love to cool themselves by having a mud bath. They will scoop wet soil from the bottom of a lake or the river and spray it on to their body to get respite from heat. Despite being that heavy, elephants can swim. Actually, all species of elephants are great swimmers.
Their swimming style is quite interesting as well. Shortly after moving to Udhagamandalam in southern India I learned that elephants were brought to the Andaman archipelago for logging. Male elephants were put on some islands and females on other islands. When the males went into musth, pulled by nature’s call, they would swim to the islands with the female elephants. In India the elephants keepers are known as mahouts.
However, African and Asian elephants are some of the few mammals that have learned how to swim. When male elephants leave the herd between the ages of 12-15, female elephants form their own groups led by a matriarch. In these herds, they form a hierarchy based on age and generational knowledge of safe and verdant spaces for food and water. These herds form tight social bonds that elicit strong emotions like grief and distress within members when their family members are injured or threatened. Elephants have even been observed mourning unfamiliar dead by stroking carcasses they pass in the wild. Elephants can swim for long distances.
Elephants can swim in both deep and shallow, fresh or saltwater. Elephants will suck water partially up their trunk, and then use it to pour the water down in their mouth. This way, they can take more than 3 gallons incredible elephant swims in deep water of water at once. They can use this water for drinking or showering. The water never goes all the way up the trunk, and they cant drink using the trunk alone. Elephant social interactions are combined with play starting at an early age.
African Elephant baby calf crossing with family, Mara river, Serengeti national park, Tanzania. The elephant’s trunk is an extension of its upper lip. As we entered the park, we saw this elephant coming down towards the water. Seemed like a young male, without the well grown tusks, generally referred to as a Makhna. It was quite warm and we thought he was coming down for a drink.
No, because the buoyant force on the elephant would be the same in both cases. Two of a herd of bachelor elephants swimming across the Chobe River towards Sedudu/ northern Botswana, using their trunks as snorkels. From the image capture details, it looks like he took around 5 minutes to swim across the lake. It is quite a big lake and this timing looks very impressive.
For us humans, this will be comparable to a “doggy swim” type of stroke rather than a clean human breaststroke. Enjoy and experience African elephants from a safe distance with this South African elephant conservation tour.
Elephants use their trunks as a snorkel to breathe underwater. This allows them to swim for long periods of time without needing to completely emerge from the water. Despite its massive size, an elephant’s body has more than enough buoyancy to stay afloat even if they aren’t actively swimming. Similar to humans and many other species of mammals, they can simply stop swimming and allow their bodies to float just above the surface if they get tired. One of the first concerns that may come to mind while contemplating elephant swimming abilities is why they need to swim in the first place. Some people believe elephants swim in order to get better food and water.