Elephants have astonishing trunks that are strong, dexterous and flexible. Now, scientists may have finally worked out how Earth's largest living land animals evolved their charismatic proboscises.
Elephant trunks are marvels of evolutionary biology. They can be more than 6.5 feet (2 meters) long and have more than 40,000 individual muscles and nerve fibers. They are capable of lifting over 600 pounds (270 kilograms) but can carefully pick up a single peanut.
