Media release

From: The Royal Society

Suction feeding by elephants

Despite having a trunk that weighs over 100 kg, elephants mainly feed on lightweight vegetation. How do elephants manipulate such small items? We filmed elephants at Zoo Atlanta showing that they can use suction to grab food, performing a behavior that was previously thought to be restricted to fishes. Taking images of the inside of an elephants nose we can see they dilate their nostrils increasing the volume by 60%. Based on our experiments we estimate elephants can inhale at speeds over 150 m/s, nearly 30 times the speed of a human sneeze.

Suction feeding – Elephants use suction to grab food and manipulate delicate objects – a behaviour previously thought to be restricted to fishes. This study with elephants at Zoo Atlanta, US, tested suction capacity in water siphoning tasks, and in picking up tortilla chips or vegetable cubes. Imaging inside the elephant’s nose shows the volume increased 64% when their nostrils dilate. Based on their experiments researchers estimate elephants can inhale at speeds over 150 m/s, nearly 30 times the speed of a human sneeze.