Sign In
Learn bits
Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

06/06/21 10:00 AM IST

Research on elephant's nostrill

In news
Elephants have two nostrils in their trunks

Research
  • They can also suck up water at a speed of three litres per second into their trunk and then blow it into the mouth.
  • New research ( Journal of The Royal Society Interface) has now found that elephants can dilate their nostrils to create more space in their trunks, allowing them to suck up to nine litres of water.
  • The trunks act like suitcases, capable of expanding when necessary.
  • The team studied elephants eating various foods, to decode the suction mechanism.
  • They used an ultrasonic probe to measure the trunk walls and see how the inner muscles worked.
  • By contracting those muscles, the animal dilates its nostrils up to 30%.
  • The team suggests elephants can inhale at speeds comparable to Japan's bullet trains. Lead author David Hu explained that an elephant uses its trunk like a Swiss Army Knife: It can detect scents and grab things, other times blowing objects away like a leaf blower or sniffs them in like a vacuum.
  • The researchers note that by investigating the mechanics and physics behind trunk muscle movements – a combination of suction and grasping – they could build better robots.
Source: The Hindu

More Related Current Affairs View All

17 Sep

Reasons Behind the heavy rain in Uttarakhand, Himachal

'Dehradun and several other districts in Uttarakhand have experienced very heavy rainfall over the past few days, triggering landslides in multiple areas and causing rivers to swel

Read More

08 Sep

Rajasthan’s coaching centre Bill

'The Rajasthan Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Bill, 2025, is a significant piece of legislation passed by the Rajasthan Assembly to regulate and oversee the state's burg

Read More

28 Aug

IADT-1

'Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out its first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-1), a crucial milestone in the preparation for the countr

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps