Researchers have developed a flexible robotic arm that mimics an elephant’s trunk, capable of twisting while staying pliable in other directions. The arm can perform activities like turning off ...

New research has found that the two ‘fingers’ on the tip of an elephant’s trunk exert different forces. The finding will be used to improve the abilities of bio-inspired robots.

However, that trunk sometimes finds its way into an elephant’s mouth as a result of its sucking reflex. When elephants are born, they experience the same sucking reflex as a newborn baby.

The Seneca Park Zoo is celebrating Elephant Awareness Day on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, with activities throughout the day dedicated to the majestic animal. (WHAM File Photo) Save Story ...

Even a baby elephant, like this newborn Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), has a well-wrinkled trunk, which is so much more useful than storybook smooth forms.Paul Gilham/Getty Images ...

The quick-thinking elephant extended its trunk into the water to create a place for the gazelle to climb out. Unfortunately, the first rescue attempt didn’t work.

Why is the elephant trunk so wrinkly? It sounds like the start of one of Aesop’s fables. But in a new study in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers offer up some answers.

Well, it looks like we can thank a changing climate for the evolution of the elephant’s trunk. Proboscideans first started popping up in Africa during the early Eocene, around 55 million years ago.

Wrinkles can even reveal whether an individual elephant prefers to bend its trunk to the right or the left, according to the new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday.