World Elephant Day is celebrated on 12 August. Elephants are magical creatures with huge bodies, long snouts, and large ears. For a long time, there have been some mysterious sayings about elephants, such as: elephants can drink water like straws, elephants come to the elephant cemetery alone and die... But in fact, these statements are not so reliable.
Myth One: An elephant's nose can drink water like a straw
The elephant's nose is indeed one of the most unique nose structures in nature, and it is very flexible. The elephant's nose is made up of nearly 40,000 elastic small muscles with tens of millions of nerve endings.
When elephants drink water, they do not suck water directly through their noses into their stomachs like they drink with a straw.
An elephant's nose is connected to the trachea, not the mouth. When elephants drink water, the water is first inhaled into the nose and stored in the nasal cavity without entering the trachea. There is also a piece of cartilage behind the elephant's nasal cavity, which acts like a "floodgate" that prevents water from entering the trachea. After that, put the long nose into your mouth, spray hard, and drink the water.
So, the saying that an elephant's nose can drink water like a straw is wrong, and elephants don't choke on water when they drink water.
Myth two: Elephant Cemetery
According to legend, when the elephant is about to run out of energy, it will leave the group and go to the elephant cemetery to wait alone for death.
In fact, this is also a rumor!
Elephants have weak digestive function, and in order to get enough energy, the most important thing for elephants to do every day is to eat. However, when there is a shortage of food, the elephant will go to the water source, and slowly the elephant will begin to sleepy and unconscious, until one day it is unable to stand up. Therefore, the water source has become a place where the bones of elephants gather.
In addition, natural disasters and mass shootings by poachers can also lead to the death of elephant groups. After the piles of skeletons were found, the legend of the "Elephant Cemetery" spread.
All things are spiritual, and I hope that everyone will learn more, understand and protect elephants scientifically and rationally, reject ivory products, and say "no" to elephant performances and riding.
References:
[1] Why don't elephants choke on water by sucking up water through their noses? @Popular Science China
[2] Does the Elephant Cemetery really exist? @I'm a scientist iScientist
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