Welcome to Fast Facts with Reasons for Hope! I’m Carl Kerby and, today, we’re going to continue our talk about the elephant trunk.
Remember, there are over 150,000 muscles required for this incredible tool to work; yet, this massive animal is able to manipulate this menagerie of muscle and meat with such precision and strength that it can use it to lift over 600 pounds or to pick up a dime from a flat surface!
Try doing that using all ten of your fingers – and throw in your toes for good measure. It’s still tough!
The elephant is believed to have the best sense of smell of all the land animals and it’s able to pick up the scent of predators several miles away.
Using its trunk, the elephant can also produce a wide range of sounds. By modifying the size of its nostrils, it can produce a low snort, high pitched squeaks of excitement, or even a full blown trumpet.
The elephant will often wave its trunk or hold it in the air as a warning not to mess with them, but, when the elephant rolls up its trunk and tucks it under its chin, look out! It’s preparing to charge.
There’s more about this amazing animal, but we’ll have to talk about that in the next Fast Facts with Reasons for Hope. Until then, stay bold!
Carl Kerby is the founder of Reasons for Hope and co-creator of the DeBunked apologetic video series. His radio feature, Fast Facts, is heard weekly on VCY America, Saturdays at 9:25 AM Central.
