One indicator of an animal’s intelligence is its ability to use tools. Animals like the chimpanzee use objects found in their environment as tools. A chimpanzee will pick up a rock and use it to crack open a nutshell, or stick a stick into a termite nest to harvest a flock of insects for a meal. The elephant is highly intelligent, and researchers and other people who work with elephants have learned that it uses many of its body parts as tools.
An elephant’s trunk is made up of 6 muscle groups that are further subdivided into 100,000 individual muscles, and the elephant displays considerable prowess in using this extensive energy network. In India, law enforcement officers work with elephants to move illegally parked cars. The elephant wraps its trunk around the offending car and moves it out of the way. At the other end of the spectrum, elephants have enough control over their power to grasp and lift a raw egg with their trunks without breaking the shell. An elephant uses the finger-like projections at the end of its trunk to scratch the itchy skin behind its ears or to wipe dust from its eyes. A mother elephant guides her calf using her trunk in the same way that a shepherd uses a staff to herd sheep, gently pushing him under her body if he sees a predator, or pushing him and the rest of the herd towards food or Water. She also directs her son by grabbing her tail with her trunk and moving to the right or left.
An elephant’s trunk also serves as a straw or hose. An elephant fills its trunk with up to 5 liters of water and then empties it into its mouth to drink. Elephants also cool off with mud baths, scooping up moist earth from the bottom of the river and throwing it on their warm skin. When an elephant goes swimming, it uses its trunk as a snorkel.
When elephants need to communicate with others in the herd, both the trunk and ears are used to convey emotions. Raising the trunk indicates excitement or danger, trumpeting the trunk is a sign of joy (especially when accompanied by ear flapping), and sniffing an object followed by placing the tip of the trunk into the mouth shows curiosity. Like cats, elephants exhibit the Flehmen response when they detect foreign odors using Jacobson’s organ found on the roof of their mouths. The scents tell the elephant who has been lurking in its territory. When other elephants see a herd member with an apparent grimace on his face, they know something interesting has been discovered in the area.
Elephants use their ears as air conditioners. Elephant ears contain a network of blood vessels that expand during hot weather and allow body heat to escape. The cooled blood returns to the body, effectively lowering the elephant’s core temperature. Elephants stick their ears out when they need to relax and often face the prevailing winds to get the maximum cooling effect from passing breezes.
The versatile elephant listens with both its feet and its ears. When an elephant speaks, it creates a low-pitched rumbling sound that is almost inaudible but sends vibrations through the land. Other elephants receive the message through their toes. These seismic messages can travel several miles, offering herds of elephants the equivalent of a telegraph.
And what allows the elephant to move quietly across the savannah? Elephants have a layer of fluffy skin on their feet that is similar to the sole of a good pair of slippers. Like sneakers, this layer also acts as a kind of shock absorber, allowing an animal weighing several tons to walk or run without jarring its joints.
From built-in reeboks to a trunk that scoops, sniffs, and splashes, Pachyderms packs a whole host of gear into one complete package.