The largest land mammal on Earth

Elephants are among the most fascinating and intelligent mammals to roam our planet. They are known for their complex social structures and emotional depth. Despite their majestic presence, these gentle giants face critical threats due to habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict.

Elephants are 'ecosystem engineers' and play a vital role in their native habitats, helping maintain the rich biodiversity of the spaces they share with other wildlife. Though elephants are native to Africa and Asia, they hold significant cultural and symbolic meanings around the world.

Elephants are the largest land mammals on earth, with African elephants (Loxodonta africana) reaching weights of up to 12,000 pounds and standing up to 13 feet tall. The tremendous mass has greatly influenced the skeleton of the elephant it must support. Incredibly, it weighs about 16.5% of its total weight ( a female's skeleton only weighs about 10% of its total weight). As in all mammals, elephants have 7 cervical vertebrae. Unlike other herbivores, however, the elephant's vertebrae evolved to have fused and relatively flat discs, which are able to handle the weight of the elephant's tusks and head.

One of the most recognisable features of elephants is their trunk. Elephant trunks are capable of performing an astonishing range of complicated movements and tasks, from picking up small fruits to ripping trees from the ground. Strong and flexible, sensitive and complex, trunks form one of the most versatile and powerful appendages in the animal kingdom.

There is a common misconception that there are hundreds of thousands of muscles in the trunk of an elephant, but there are only 17 muscles in the trunk. There are 8 muscles on each side of the trunk and 1 central muscle between the nasal passages. The confusion regarding how many muscles there are in the trunk may be because the 17 muscles of the trunk are composed of up to 150,000 muscle fascicles. Muscle fascicles are bundles of muscle fibres that are surrounded by connective tissue.

The muscles of the trunk are connected to the skull of the elephant, they are not supported by any bones. This type of muscular structure, in which muscles are only connected to bones on one end, is called a muscular hydrostat. In this way, it is similar to the tongue, or the tentacles of an octopus. A muscular hydrostat consists of a densely packed, 3-dimensional collection of muscles. The muscles are arranged in 3 different directions, perpendicular, parallel and oblique to the long axis of the trunk. By contracting these different muscles, elephants can elongate, shorten, bend, stiffen, and twist their trunks.