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April 23, 2004

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q.  From the standpoint of animal "engineering," what might be the point of an elephant's ungainly looking trunk?

    A.  So the head can reach the ground is one theory. "And comical as this sounds, it's got a good chance of being true," says Chris Lavers in "Why Elephants Have Big Ears" (Ans: To cool off their fat bodies).  At 3-4 meters tall, a trunkless elephant would need a neck 3-4 meters long to forage near the ground.  But imagine trying to carry a 1-ton head on the end of a 3-meter lever!  And lightening the head doesn't seem feasible, given the elephant's large braincase and huge jaws and teeth for processing all that food, enough to wear out several sets of choppers over its lifetime.


     
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