The Elephant Whisperers

 I decided to look up something at 33:57 minutes into Netflix's The Elephant Whisperers.  

me: Tell me a whole bunch about elephant trunks

Google Gemini: 

Alright, let's dive deep into the fascinating world of elephant trunks! They are truly remarkable appendages, serving a multitude of essential functions. Here's a whole bunch of information about them:

Anatomy and Structure:

Elongated Nose and Upper Lip: The trunk isn't just a nose; it's a highly specialized fusion of the upper lip and the nose. This unique evolutionary adaptation provides incredible dexterity and strength.

Cartilage and Muscle: Unlike human noses, elephant trunks are primarily composed of muscle and connective tissue, with no bones. This makes them incredibly flexible and strong. It's estimated that an African elephant's trunk contains around 40,000 individual muscles, arranged in complex layers running longitudinally, circularly, and radially.

Nostrils: Elephants have two nostrils at the very tip of their trunk, allowing them to breathe and smell.

Finger-like Processes: At the tip of the trunk, both African and Asian elephants have sensitive, finger-like projections. African elephants have two of these "fingers" located at the very end, which they use for grasping small objects with remarkable precision. Asian elephants have one such "finger" on the upper side of the trunk tip. These differences reflect adaptations to their respective environments and feeding habits.

Size and Weight: An adult African elephant's trunk can grow to be about 7 feet (2 meters) long and can weigh up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms). Asian elephant trunks are generally a bit shorter and lighter.

Nerve Endings: The trunk is richly supplied with nerve endings, making it incredibly sensitive to touch, pressure, temperature, and even pain. This sensitivity allows elephants to perform delicate tasks.

Functions of the Elephant Trunk:

Smelling: The trunk is the elephant's primary olfactory organ. They have an exceptional sense of smell, far surpassing that of humans. They use their trunks to detect water sources, food, predators, and even the reproductive status of other elephants from great distances. They can also use their trunks to investigate new objects and environments.

Breathing: Elephants breathe entirely through their trunks. They can even use their trunks as snorkels when wading or swimming in deep water.

Grasping and Manipulation: The trunk acts as a prehensile limb, allowing elephants to grasp objects of various sizes and shapes. They can pick up tiny blades of grass with their finger-like processes or lift massive logs. They use their trunks to pluck leaves and fruits from trees, pull up roots, and manipulate objects for play or defense.

Drinking: Elephants use their trunks to suck up water (they can hold several gallons at once) and then transfer it to their mouths. They don't drink directly through their trunks.

Feeding: Besides grasping food, elephants use their trunks to strip bark from trees, break branches, and dust off food items. They can also use their trunks to push food into their mouths.

Communication: Trunks play a vital role in elephant communication. They can trumpet loudly by expelling air through their trunks, make rumbles and other vocalizations that resonate through the trunk, and use trunk-to-trunk touching as a form of greeting, reassurance, and bonding.

Defense: Elephants can use their powerful trunks as weapons to strike at predators or rivals. A forceful blow from a trunk can be incredibly damaging. They can also use their trunks to lift and throw objects as defense.

Sensing Vibrations: Elephants can use their trunks to sense vibrations in the ground, which can help them locate water sources or detect the approach of other animals, including predators, from a distance.

Cooling: Elephants can suck up water with their trunks and then spray it over their bodies to cool down in hot weather. They can also use their trunks to throw dust and mud onto themselves as a form of sunscreen.

Dusting: Elephants will often use their trunks to spray dust or sand over their bodies, which helps to protect them from insects and the sun.

Digging: They can use their trunks to dig for water in dry riverbeds or to excavate roots and tubers.

Development:

Baby elephants have less control over their trunks and often swing them around clumsily. They learn to master their trunks over time through practice and by observing their mothers and other adults. Young elephants may even suck on their trunks for comfort, similar to human babies sucking their thumbs.

Interesting Facts:

An elephant's trunk is strong enough to uproot a small tree but also delicate enough to pick a single blade of grass or a peanut shell.

The trunk has a remarkable sense of touch, with more tactile sensitivity than the human hand.

Elephants can use their trunks to scratch themselves in hard-to-reach places.

The trunk is essential for the survival of elephants, and injuries to the trunk can be severely debilitating.

In conclusion, the elephant trunk is an extraordinary and versatile appendage that is fundamental to almost every aspect of an elephant's life, from feeding and drinking to communication and defense. Its unique muscular structure and sensitivity make it one of nature's most remarkable tools.

I fell in love.  I know there are instances where they trample people but you can already see the potential of how they can be raised correctly and can be both a companion and an aid to someone.  I know from before viewing that when their young dies, they are known to be distraught and won't leave this young elephant for much longer then one might otherwise expect if they are dead.  There is this activist of the elephant whisperers who is the only female hired by the parks division in India and her light hearted, friendly, loving, and socially inclusive nature towards these creatures has specifically brought these elephants, to me, into a light as an animal of an extraordinary nature.  They are remarkable creatures of beauty and the fact that so many over in this foreign land actually possess a heart for someone who is simply an elephant whisperer shows me that my liking them isn't without reason.

The fact that they "use trunk-to-trunk touching as a form of greeting, reassurance, and bonding" makes me feel warm towards their kind since they are socializing through using this part of themselves and they might be worthy of interacting with at least outside of musth and in certain circumstances.  When they are very little they are still trying to learn how to manage this strange appendage we refer to as their trunk that just seems to them to hang off of a part of themselves for no reason.