Trunk – The trunk is used to drink, and pick up food and place it in the mouth.
Teeth – Elephant teeth are used to chew hard food.
Tusks – Tusks are used for digging, carrying loads, debarking trees, and in combat.
Brain – The elephant possesses the largest brain among land mammals, and is four times the size of a human brain.
Ear – The ears are used for hearing, balancing the body, thermoregulation, and for signaling. The ears are also used for identification because the size and shape of the ear is different in different elephants.
Body Surface – The irregular surface of an elephant's body helps with cooling because it retains more water.
Eyes – The eyes of an elephant are used to see.
Skin – The skin is highly wrinkled and helps absorb water and is highly useful during periods of drought.
Two Most Important Anatomical Structures
Ear – The elephant ear is very large and has a unique shape. It is used for hearing, balancing, thermoregulation, and for signaling. Elephants have a hard time losing body heat through the skin, so an elephant's ear will release a lot of heat when flapped gently. The ears of an elephant are also used for identification since they are unique in each elephant. Along with that, whenever an elephant thinks there is a threat, it opens its ears wide. The folds in the ear can also indicate the age of an elephant. When elephants greet other elephants, they quickly flatten their ears. Elephants can only hear low frequency sounds and communicate by producing deep growing or rumbling noises. However, when they are alarmed, they let out an ear-splitting trumpet.
Skin – Elephant skin lacks moisture, so it must be loose, especially to provide the necessary flexibility for motion. The skin of an African Elephant is more wrinkled than the Asian elephant. The natural color of an elephant's skin is grayish black, but usually the skin is the same color as the soil where the elephant lives. This is because elephant's take a lot of mud baths or dust themselves with soil to protect against insects, control body temperature, and to protect against sunburn.
Natural Selection in Elephants
Tusks – Some elephants are becoming tuskless now because of poachers. This is natural selection because if the elephants are tuskless they are less likely to be killed. This might help the elephant population survive because if they don't have tusks they will have a less likely chance of being killed by poachers.
Nick. "Exploring the Role and Function of an Elephant'S Ears." Tsavo Trust, 1 Sept. 2023, tsavotrust.org/exploring-the-role-and-function-of-an-elephants-ears.
