The trunk is long. Why does an elephant have a long trunk. Fairy tale by Rudyard Kipling. "Hands" and "breadwinner"

The elephant is one of the largest land mammals. Its weight can reach up to 5 tons, so it has short legs that serve as a powerful support. Elephant tusks are actually just upper teeth that have grown to enormous sizes, which play important role in the life of an animal. But the most important organ of an elephant is the trunk. Some people think that the trunk serves only as a respiratory organ, but this is only one of its many functions.

What is a trunk?

The first thing a person notices when he sees, in addition to his size, is his trunk, which is an upper lip fused with a nose as a result of evolution. Thus, the elephants got a rather flexible and long nose, consisting of 500 different muscles, and at the same time not having a single bone (except for the cartilage on the bridge of the nose).

The nostrils, like in humans, are divided into two channels along the entire length. And at the tip of the trunk are small, but very strong muscles that serve the elephant like fingers. With their help, the elephant will be able to feel and pick up a small button or other small object.

First of all, the trunk performs the function of the nose, but with its help, elephants breathe, smell, and can also:

• drink;
• get your own food;
• communicate with relatives;
• lift small objects;
• bathe;
• to defend;
• express emotions.

From all this it follows that the trunk is a useful and unique tool. IN Everyday life an adult elephant cannot do without a trunk, just as a person cannot do without hands. Reference. The baby elephant is not trained to properly use the trunk and constantly steps on it when walking. Therefore, before fully learning to control the trunk, the baby elephant simply uses it to hold on to the parent's tail while moving.

Food and drink

One of the most important functions of the trunk is the extraction of food and water. With the help of this organ, the animal searches for and extracts these vital products.

Food

The elephant differs from other mammals in that it consumes food mainly with its nose, with which it gets it. The diet of this animal depends on the type of elephant. Since the elephant is a mammal, it feeds mainly on plants, vegetables and fruits.

Protection from enemies

In conditions wildlife, in addition to tusks, the elephant also uses its trunk for protection. Due to the flexibility of the organ, the animal can repel blows from any direction, and the number of muscles in the trunk give it great power. The weight of the organ makes it an excellent weapon: adult it reaches 140 kg, and a blow of such force is able to repel the attack of a dangerous predator.

Communication

Despite the fact that scientists have proven the ability of elephants to communicate using infrasound, the trunk plays an important role in the communication of these animals. Most often, this communication is as follows:

• greeting - elephants greet each other with the help of a trunk;
• helping offspring.

Elephants also use their trunks to communicate with their babies. Despite the fact that the little elephant still walks rather poorly, he has a need for movement, and his mother helps him in this. Holding on with their trunks, mother and cub move little by little, as a result of which the latter gradually learns to walk.

Also, adults can use the trunk to punish the offending offspring. At the same time, of course, the elephants do not put all their strength into the blow, but lightly spank the children. As for communication between elephants, these animals are very fond of touching each other with their trunks, stroking their “interlocutors” on the backs and showing their attention in every possible way.

Many, many years ago, my beloved, the elephant did not have a trunk - only a blackish thick nose, the size of boots; True, the elephant could turn it from side to side, but did not lift any things with it. At the same time, a very young elephant lived in the world, an elephant-child. He was terribly curious, and therefore he always asked various questions to everyone. He lived in Africa, and no one in this vast country could satisfy his curiosity. One day he asked his tall uncle the ostrich why the most best feathers grow on his tail, and instead of answering, the ostrich hit him with his strong paw. The baby elephant asked his tall aunt giraffe where the spots on her skin came from, and this aunt of the baby elephant kicked him with her hard, hard hoof. And yet the young elephant continued to be curious. He asked a fat hippopotamus why she had such red eyes, but she hit him with her fat, fat leg; then he asked his hairy baboon uncle why melons taste like melons, and the hairy baboon uncle slapped him with his hairy, hairy paw. Yet the elephant was filled with an insatiable curiosity. He asked about everything he saw, heard, smelled, touched or smelled, and all the uncles and aunts of the baby elephant only pushed and beat him; nevertheless, an insatiable curiosity was seething in him.

One fine morning, as the equinox approached, a curious baby elephant asked new question which has never been asked before. He asked, "What do you serve a crocodile for lunch?" And everyone said, "Sh!" - in a loud and fearful whisper, then they began to beat him and for a long time everyone pounded and pounded.

Finally, when the punishment was over, the baby elephant saw the bell bird; she sat in the middle of a thorn bush, which seemed to say: "Wait, wait." And the elephant said: “My father beat me; my mother beat me; my aunts and uncles beat me, and all because I am so insatiably curious, but I still want to know what the crocodile eats at dinner?

The bell-bird cried out sadly and said:

Go to the shores of the big greyish green quiet river Limpopo, bordered by trees that make people sick with a fever, and then you will know.

The very next morning, when there was no sign of the equinox, the curious elephant-child, taking a hundred pounds of bananas (small, short and yellow), a thousand pounds of sugarcane stalks (long, purple), seventeen melons (green, brittle), said to all my dear relatives:

Farewell, I'm going to the grey-green swampy Limpopo River, shaded by trees that smell of fever, and I'll see what the crocodile eats for lunch.

All the relatives beat him just like that, for luck, and beat him for a long time, although he very politely asked them to stop.

Finally, the baby elephant left; he was a little hot, but he was not surprised at this, he ate melons and threw crusts; after all, he could not lift them from the ground.

He went from the city of Gregham to Kimberley, from Kimberley to the Kama region, from the Kama region he headed north and west and ate melons all the time; finally, the elephant-child came to the bank of the great grey-green swampy river Limpopo, shaded by trees that smell of fever. Here everything was as the bell bird said.

Now, my beloved, you must learn and understand that until this very week, until this very day, hour, even until the last minute, the curious baby elephant had never seen a crocodile, and did not even know what he looked like. That's why he was so curious to look at this creature.

First of all he saw the two-colored rock python; this huge snake lay, surrounding the stone with her rings.

Excuse me for disturbing you,” said the baby elephant very politely, “but please tell me, have you seen anything like a crocodile anywhere in the area?”

Have I seen a crocodile? - answered the two-colored python of rocks in a voice contemptuous and spiteful. - Well, what else do you ask?

Excuse me, continued the elephant child, but can you kindly tell me what he eats at dinner?

The two-colored rock python quickly turned around and struck the elephant with its scaly, whip-like tail.

What a strange thing, - said the elephant child, - my father and my mother, my uncle and aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the hippo, and my other uncle, the baboon, beat me and kicked me for my insatiable curiosity, and now seems to start the same thing again.

He very politely said goodbye to the two-colored rock python, helped him wrap his body around the rock and left; the elephant felt hot, but he did not feel tired; he ate melons and threw rinds, because he could not lift them from the ground. And then the elephant-child stepped on something, as it seemed to him, on a log lying on the very bank of the large gray-green swampy river Limpopo, overgrown with trees that smell of fever.

And this was the crocodile, my beloved, and this crocodile winked with one eye.

Excuse me, - said the elephant-child very politely, - but have you seen a crocodile somewhere nearby?

The crocodile winked with the other eye, lifting its tail from the mud; the baby elephant stepped back politely; he didn't want to be beaten.

Come here, baby, said the crocodile. - Why do you ask?

I beg your pardon, the elephant child replied very politely, but my father beat me; my mother beat me, in a word, everyone beat me, not to mention my tall uncle the ostrich and my tall aunt giraffe, who kick cruelly; not to mention also my fat aunt, the hippopotamus, and my hairy uncle, the baboon, and including the two-colored rock python with its scaly, whip-like tail that hits the hardest of all; so, if you do not really want this, I ask you not to whip me with your tail.

Come here, baby, - the crocodile drawled, - the fact is that I am a crocodile. - And to prove that he was telling the truth, the crocodile cried crocodile tears.

The baby elephant stopped breathing in surprise; then, panting, he knelt on the shore and said:

It's you I've been looking for all these long, long days. Would you agree to say what you eat at dinner?

Come closer, baby, said the crocodile. And I'll whisper it in your ear.

The baby elephant pushed his head towards the crocodile's toothy mouth, and the crocodile grabbed the baby elephant by its short nose, which until that very week, until that day, hour and until that minute was no more than a boot, although much more useful than any shoe.

It seems, - said the crocodile (he said it through his teeth), - it seems that today I will start dinner with a baby elephant.

Hearing this, my beloved, the elephant felt annoyed and said through his nose:

Let it go! I'm in pain!

This is an elephant-child; the crocodile tugs at his nose. The elephant is very surprised and amazed, and it also hurts a lot, and he says through his nose: “Let go, it hurts me!” He tries his best to yank his nose out of the crocodile's mouth; the crocodile drags the elephant in the other direction. A two-colored rock python swims to help the baby elephant. The black streaks and spots are the banks of the great grey-green quiet Limpopo River (I was not allowed to color in the pictures), and the trees with curved roots and eight leaves are exactly the kind of trees that smell of fever.

Below this picture are the shadows of African animals walking into the African Noah's Ark. There are two lions, two ostriches, two bulls, two camels, two sheep and many pairs of other animals that live among the rocks. All these animals mean nothing. I drew them because they seemed pretty to me; and if I were allowed to color them, they would be downright lovely.

At that moment the two-colored rock python descended from the shore and said:

My young friend, if you do not pull your nose with all your might now, I believe your new acquaintance, covered in patent leather (he meant "crocodile"), will drag you into the depths of this transparent stream before you can say: "Jack Robinson.

This is the way the two-colored rock pythons always speak.

The baby elephant obeyed the rock python; he sat down on his hind legs and began to pull his nose out of the crocodile's mouth; he kept pulling and pulling it, and the baby elephant's nose began to stretch. The crocodile fussed and beat the water with his big tail, so that it foamed; at the same time he was pulling the elephant by the nose.

The baby elephant's nose continued to stretch; the elephant spread all his four legs and did not stop pulling his nose out of the mouth of the crocodile, and his nose became longer and longer. The crocodile, on the other hand, led the water with his tail, like an oar, and pulled and pulled the elephant by the nose; and every time he pulls on this nose, it will become longer. The elephant was in terrible pain.

Suddenly the elephant-child felt that his feet were slipping; he rode them along the bottom; Finally, speaking through his nose, which was now extended almost five feet, the baby elephant said, "I've had enough!"

The two-colored rock python descended into the water, wrapped around the hind legs of the elephant like two loops of rope and said:

Imprudent and inexperienced traveler, from now on we will seriously devote ourselves to an important matter, we will try to pull your nose with all our might, since it seems to me that this self-propelled warship with armor on the upper deck (those words, my beloved, he meant a crocodile) will interfere with your next steps.

All bicolor rock pythons always speak in such confusing terms.

A bicolor python was pulling an elephant; the baby elephant stuck out its nose; the crocodile pulled him too; but the baby elephant and the two-colored rock python pulled harder than the crocodile, and at last the baby elephant released the nose, and the water splashed so that this splash could be heard along the entire length of the Limpopo River, up and downstream.

At the same time, the baby elephant suddenly sat down, or rather, plopped into the water, but before that he said to the python: “Thank you!” Then he took care of his poor nose, which had been tugged at for so long, wrapped it in fresh banana leaves, and dipped it into the water of the great, grey-green, quiet Limpopo River.

Why are you doing it? asked the two-colored rock python.

I beg your pardon, replied the elephant child, but my nose has completely lost its shape, and I am waiting for it to wrinkle and shrink.

You will have to wait a long time, - said the two-colored rock python. - Still, I note that many do not understand their benefits.

For three days the baby elephant sat and waited for his nose to shrink. But this nose was not made shorter; besides, he had to squint his eyes cruelly. My beloved, you will understand that the crocodile has stretched the elephant's nose into a real trunk, like those that you see now in all elephants.

Here is a picture of a baby elephant at the moment when he is about to pick bananas from the top of a banana tree with his beautiful new long trunk. I don't find this picture good, but I couldn't draw it better because drawing elephants and bananas is very, very difficult. Behind the baby elephant you see blackness, and stripes across it; I wanted to portray a marshy swampy area somewhere in Africa. The elephant-child made most of his cakes from silt, which he got from these swamps. It seems to me that the picture will become much more beautiful if you paint the banana tree green and the elephant red.

On the third day, a tsetse fly came and bit the elephant on the shoulder. The elephant, not understanding what he was doing, raised his trunk and killed the fly with its end.

Benefit number one, said the bicolor rock python. - You couldn't do that with your little nose. Well, now try to eat.

Before he had time to think what he was doing, the elephant-child stretched out his trunk, plucked a large tuft of grass, pounded these green stalks on his front legs to shake off the dust from them, and finally put them in his mouth.

Benefit number two, said the bicolor rock python. - You couldn't do that with your shorty nose. Do you think the sun is too hot?

Yes, - the elephant-child agreed and, before he even had time to think what he was doing, he scooped up silt from the gray-green swampy river Limpopo and smeared his head with it; the silt made a cool silty hat; water flowed from it behind the ears of a baby elephant.

Benefit number three, said the bicolor rock python. "You couldn't do that with your old shorty nose." Well, what do you say about the beaters that you were treated to? Will it start again?

I beg your pardon, - said the elephant-child, - I do not want this at all.

Wouldn't it be nice for you to beat someone up? - the two-colored python of rocks asked the elephant.

I would like it very much, - answered the elephant-child.

Well, - said the two-colored rock python, - you will see that your new nose will be useful when you decide to beat someone with it.

Thank you, - said the elephant-child, - I will remember this, and now I will go home to my dear relatives and see what happens next.

The baby elephant did indeed go home through Africa; he waved and twisted his trunk. When he wanted to eat fruits from trees, he took them from high branches; he did not have to wait, as before, for these fruits to fall to the ground. When he wanted grass, he tore it from the ground and he did not have to kneel down, as he did in the old days. When flies bit him, he tore off a branch from a tree and turned it into a fan; when the sun burned his head, he made himself a new, cool, damp hat of silt or clay. When he got bored, he sang, or rather, trumpeted through his trunk, and this song sounded louder than the music of several brass bands. He deliberately made a detour to see a fat hippo (she was not related to him) and beat her hard with his trunk to see if the two-colored rock python was telling the truth. For the rest of the time, he picked up melon peels from the ground, which he threw on the road to Limpopo. He did this because he was a very clean, thick-skinned animal.

One dark evening, the baby elephant returned to his dear relatives, folded his trunk into a ring and said:

How are you?

They were all very glad to see him and immediately said:

Come closer, we'll spank you for your insatiable curiosity.

Ba, - said the elephant-child, - I don't think that any of you knew how to fight; I know how to beat and now I will teach you how to do it.

Then he straightened his trunk, hit two of his dear relatives, so hard that they flew somersaults.

Miracles, they said, where did you learn such a thing? And pray tell, what have you done to your nose?

The crocodile gave me a new nose, and it happened on the banks of the big gray-green marshy river Limpopo, - answered the baby elephant. - I asked him what he had for dinner, and he stuck out my nose for it.

What a disgrace! - remarked the baboon, the hairy uncle of the baby elephant.

He is ugly, - said the elephant-child, - but very comfortable, - and, saying this, the baby elephant grabbed one leg of his hairy uncle with his trunk, picked him up and put him in a hornet's nest.

After that, the bad baby elephant beat all his dear relatives for a long time, beat him until they became very hot. They were completely surprised. The baby elephant tugged at his tall uncle the ostrich by his tail feathers; caught his tall aunt giraffe by her hind leg and dragged her through a thorny bush; when his fat aunt, a hippopotamus, after eating, was resting in the water, he put his trunk to her very ear, shouted two or three words to her, at the same time blowing a few bubbles through the water. But neither at that time, nor later, did he ever allow anyone to offend the bell bird.

Finally, all the cute relatives of the baby elephant began to get so excited that one by one they ran to the banks of the large gray-green swampy river Limpopo, shaded by trees that smell of fever; each of them wanted to get a new nose from a crocodile. When they returned home, they no longer beat each other; the uncles and aunts did not touch the baby elephant either. From this day on, my beloved, all the elephants you see and all that you do not see have very long trunks, just like the one that the curious baby elephant had.

• Why does an elephant have a long nose? I think everyone has asked this question.
• Here is how children answer this question: The paws of an elephant are thick and clumsy. Will they be able to pick a delicious banana from a palm tree or brush off annoying insects? Here is the wise nature and gave the elephant a trunk, which serves him not only as a nose, but also as a “hand”. An elephant draws water with its trunk and pours it into its mouth. He also sends food to his mouth. If you want to take a shower, again you can’t do without a trunk. The elephant's trunk is strong and flexible and in case of danger can become a formidable weapon.
• There are many legends about this occasion.
• Once upon a time, there lived a Khan. He had the longest nose in the world.

Every time Khan had a baby, he went up to him, looked at his nose and, sighing sadly, said: "It's short again." All the inhabitants of the planet had normal length nose, even Khan's heirs. Khan was very upset about this. And then one day, an interesting thought came to his mind.

• He ordered to bring the largest inhabitant of the planet and stretch his nose. The servants searched for a long time and finally found ... It turned out to be an elephant. They pulled the elephant by the nose for so long that it became seven times longer than the nose of their master. When Khan saw this elephant, he couldn't help but be delighted.

Now I don't have one long nose! Ha ha ha!

• Contrary to the offspring of the Khan, the descendants of the elephant, since then, were born only with long noses.

An elephant's nose is called a trunk. The trunk is a long flexible process formed by the nose and upper lip fused together. At African elephant the trunk ends in 2 processes, dorsal and ventral. The usual length of the trunk is about 1.5 m, weight - 135 kg. Thanks to complex system muscles and tendons, the trunk has great mobility and strength. With its help, the elephant is able to both pick up a small object and lift a load weighing 250-275 kg. An elephant's trunk can hold 7.5 liters of water. But small elephants do not know how to use this “appendage” and even sometimes step on it. It takes a lot of time to learn how to master it. This lesson is taken over by the elephants, who teach the kids the skill for several months. Moreover, they do not leave their children for many years - such a strong motherly love!

• The trunk has many muscles - about 40,000. Therefore, this organ is very strong and flexible. So the elephant can use his trunk as a very effective weapon. The tip of the trunk, like the fingers, is so sensitive that it can feel a barely perceptible touch.
• species-specific anatomical feature respiratory system elephant is the presence of a trunk. This organ is used by animals for breathing, eating, water, communication, tactile sensations and much more. On the ground, elephants breathe through both their mouths and their trunks. Being in the water, in which they are often completely immersed, elephants breathe with their trunk, putting it out. An elephant performs 4-6 respiratory movements per minute. The trunk, as noted above, consists of 40,000 muscle fibers, due to which it is extremely mobile, it can bend in all directions, lengthen, shorten in accordance with the requirements of the environment. With the help of a trunk, an elephant can lift very heavy objects and supply water to oral cavity while gaining immediately up to 17 liters! Then he puts the end of the trunk in his mouth and releases water into his throat. In addition, elephants, by inserting their trunk into their throats, can draw water from the stomach and then pour it on themselves or on their cubs to cool down.
• The trunk also serves elephants for communication, courtship and care of children, but can also become a formidable weapon in battle. An elephant that has lost its trunk is doomed to starvation. The only time an elephant doesn't need a trunk to eat is early childhood: baby elephant sucks mother's milk directly by mouth. The sense of smell of an elephant is very subtle, it can smell a person more than 1.5 km away. An elephant performs 4-6 respiratory movements per minute.
• There is such a fact about the appearance of a trunk in elephants: In 1993, due to the production of South Africa shooting elephants (this is a separate sad topic), 6 embryos aged from 58 to 166 days fell into the hands of scientists. In the course of their research, it turned out that the elephant is a former marine mammal (similar sea ​​cows), which returned to land again 30 million years ago. That he used his trunk originally as a breathing tube. Then it is clear what made the trunk lengthen over time. It is also clear why the elephant needed large ears-fins. Well, what about the size? Normal for a marine animal. Weight is no longer an issue when the water pushes out. By the way, Indian elephant and, now, he uses his trunk like that, swimming with a log across the river. He cannot breathe through his mouth because of his short neck.

How did you come to all this?

• Nephrostomes were found in all elephant embryos. As I understand it, these are some kind of renal canals that are found only in freshwater fish, frogs and egg-laying reptiles and mammals (echidna, platypus). Normal mammals do not have them.
• The trunk of the embryo, as it turned out, develops much earlier than one might think, which also fits into its marine origin.

Follow-up comparisons of elephants in DNA, chemistry, and immune systems with marine mammals, showed their amazing closeness to sea cows.

• How interesting and how bizarre the world is. Once upon a time, all living things lived in water. Then the living creatures began to crawl onto land. Mammals appeared. Some of them (whales, dolphins) returned to the seas and oceans. It would seem, where next? So no, there were repatriates who again returned to land. Carousel of evolution, and nothing more.

Olga Korovina
Project "Where does the elephant's trunk come from"

« Where does the elephant's trunk come from»

Ivanov Yaroslav

MBDOUd/s#12 "Our happiness"

Application.

According to the text of the abstract - presentation « Where does the elephant's trunk come from» (28 illustrations on sheets, 1 copy).

Contest research preschool projects

Where does the elephant's trunk come from?

Section: "My first educational and research project»

(natural science direction)

Ivanov Yaroslav,

MBDOU d / s No. 12 "Our happiness"

Tbilisi region,

stanitsa Tbilisskaya

Scientific leaders:

« Where does the elephant's trunk come from»

Ivanov Yaroslav

MBDOU d / s No. 12 "Our happiness"

Annotation.

I love learning new and interesting things about the world around us. Most of all I enjoy listening to my mother reading, studying and looking at illustrations, watching TV shows and movies about animals. My favorite animal - elephant.

I recently visited the Darwin Museum, where I saw the fossil baby mammoth Lyuba and other exhibits elephants and mammoths.

I asked my parents:

From where elephants appeared trunk, because animals descended from dinosaurs and them with trunk was not?

Hypothesis: elephant's trunk appeared in the process of evolution.

Target: explore life elephants and trunk functions. Consider evolutionary development elephants.

Object of study: elephants.

Tasks:

Explore life elephants.

Reveal functional tasks elephant trunk.

Find the answer to your question « Where does the elephant's trunk come from?»

Life elephants.

Elephant- the largest and most powerful animal on earth. Only whales surpass them in size.

live elephants 70-80 years old, eat plant food. Elephant feeds on grass and tree leaves.

They sleep little - half as much as a person. This gives them the opportunity to spend more time looking for food. They move freely through swamps and thickets, easily climb large mountain slopes, and swim well. The body is dressed in skin that no thorns and thorns can hurt.

There are two kinds in the world elephants, each with one type.

African - lives in the forest areas of tropical Africa.

Indian - lives in Sri Lanka and the Indian Peninsula, in the countries of Indochina, South China and on the large islands of Indonesia.

Elephants live in herds(family groups). In a herd from 10 to 35 elephant with baby elephants and one old elephant. At elephants mostly one cub is born. Elephant very cute and cute babies who travel by grabbing proboscis for mother's tail.

Most favorite hobby For elephants are food. Every day he eats up to 250 kilograms of food and drinks up to 200 liters of water.

elephants they adore water and do not miss the opportunity to swim and splash in the reservoirs. They are excellent swimmers, surprisingly leaving only the very tip above the water. trunk and forehead.

Roar elephant is a piercing and screeching sound that resembles both the squeal of car brakes and the hoarse huge bugle.

elephants- Animals are very friendly. When they see each other, they, like people, always say hello, they only do it according to their special ritual, which consists in interlacing trunks with each other while trumpeting loudly.

As little children hold their mother's hand with their hand, so baby elephants in the first years of life go for elephant - mother holding her tail with her proboscis.

In addition to the huge size, elephant, strikes and surprises him trunk

Functional tasks trunk.

What is this organ? What is it for elephant? How was it formed? And generally speaking trunk Is it a changed upper lip, nose or hand? How to answer all these questions?

trunk elephants perform many actions. They are recruiting in trunk water water themselves and each other with this water; take trunk food; pluck leaves and branches; trumpet; clap and stroke each other and even know how to draw with them.

But how could it appear elephant such an amazing organ?

And it was all like that.

And everything was like that: a long time ago, millions of years ago, distant ancestors roamed the earth elephants. Instead of trunk they had a slightly elongated fused nose and upper lip. With such a nose - lip elephants snatched tidbits from the trees. Some of the animals had a nose-lip that was at least a little longer, that got more food. These animals grew strong and hardy. But in nature, the fittest survive. That's how they survived elephantine, whose nose-lip was at least a little longer than the rest. The cubs, born into the world with longer nose-lips than their counterparts, had an easier life. And the cubs of their cubs also had an easier life. So from generation to generation animals appeared, at least not by much, but with longer and longer noses - lips.

Centuries passed. And nature sifted out, selected from all animals the most enduring, most adapted to the difficulties of life, including elephants with long noses. Thanks to such natural selection, the nose-lip turned first into a short nose, and then into a real one. trunk. at the tip trunk at first it turned out something like a finger, which elephant can pick up even a blade of grass from the ground. Once - and elephant he plucked a bunch of grass for them, two - a green twig, a delicious fruit, three - he doused himself on a hot day with water, like from a hose, four - he sprinkled sand on his sides. The elephant even learned to blow his trunk.

Conclusion.

In the evolution of the detachment proboscis a definite trend can be observed. From the Eocene meriterium (1) through the Oligocene fayum (2, Miocene homotherium (3) and tetralophodon (4) to the Pliocene Stegodon (5) and modern elephant(6) there is an increase in size, complication of teeth, the transformation of incisors into tusks and the development trunk from the fused nose and upper lip.

Series of evolution proboscis, shown in the figure, is collected from representatives of different evolutionary lines and has only comparative anatomical significance.

I hugged globe terrestrial.

Alone over land and water

In the hands of my continents

They whisper softly to me "take care"

After all, animals, birds, ants

We are all children of the same green!

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It is only now, my dear boy, that the Elephant has a trunk. And before, a long time ago, the Elephant did not have any trunk. There was only a nose, sort of like a cake, black and the size of a shoe. This nose dangled in all directions, but still it was no good: is it possible to lift something from the ground with such a nose?

But at that very time, a long time ago, there lived one such Elephant, or, rather, the Baby Elephant, who was terribly curious, and whoever he saw, pestered everyone with questions. He lived in Africa, and he pestered all Africa with questions.

He molested the Ostrich, his lanky aunt, and asked her why the feathers on her tail grew so, and not that way, and the lanky aunt Ostrich gave him a cuff for that with her hard, hard leg. He molested his long-legged uncle Giraffe and asked him why he had spots on his skin, and the long-legged uncle Giraffe gave him a cuff with his hard, hard hoof.

And he asked his fat aunt Behemoth why she had such red eyes, and the fat aunt Behemoth gave him a cuff for that with her fat, fat hoof.

But that didn't stop him from curiosity.

He asked his hairy uncle Baboon why all the melons are so sweet, and the hairy uncle Baboon gave him a cuff for that with his shaggy, hairy paw.

But that didn't take away his curiosity.

Whatever he saw, whatever he heard, whatever he sniffed, whatever he touched, he immediately asked about everything and immediately received cuffs from all his uncles and aunts.

But that didn't stop him from curiosity.

And it so happened that one fine morning, shortly before the equinox, this very Baby Elephant - annoying and pestering - asked about one such thing that he had never asked before. He asked:

What does Crocodile eat for dinner?

Everyone was frightened and shouted loudly:

- Shhhh!

And immediately, without further words, they began to pour cuffs on him.

They beat him for a long time, without a break, but when they finished beating, he immediately ran up to the bird Kolokolo, who was sitting in a thorny thorn bush, and said:

“My father beat me, and my mother beat me, and all my aunts beat me, and all my uncles beat me for my unbearable curiosity, and yet I terribly would like to know what the Crocodile eats at dinner?”

And the bird Bell said in a sad and loud voice:

- Go to the bank of the sleepy, fetid, muddy-green Limpopo River; its banks are covered with trees that make everyone feverish. There you will learn everything.

The next morning, when there was nothing left of the equinox, this curious Baby Elephant collected bananas - a whole hundred pounds! - and sugar cane - a hundred pounds too! - and seventeen greenish melons, of those that crunch on the teeth, he shouldered all this and, wishing his dear relatives to stay happy, set off.

— Farewell! he told them. — I'm going to the sleepy, fetid, muddy-green river Limpopo; its banks are covered with trees that make everyone feverish, and there I will by all means find out what the Crocodile eats at dinner.

And his relatives once again gave him a good blow in parting, although he very politely asked them not to worry.

And he walked away from them, a little shabby, but not very surprised. He ate melons along the way, and threw the crusts on the ground, since he had nothing to pick up these crusts. From the town of Graham he went to Kimberley, from Kimberley to Ham's land, from Ham's land east and north, eating melons all the way, until at last he came to the sleepy, stinking, muddy green Limpopo River, surrounded by just such trees, oh which the bird Bell told him.

And you need to know, my dear boy, that until that very week, until that very day, until that very hour, until that very minute, our curious Baby Elephant had never seen a Crocodile and did not even know what it was. Imagine his curiosity!

The first thing that caught his eye was the Bicolor Python, the Rock Serpent, coiled around some rock.

- Excuse me, please! said the Baby Elephant extremely courteously. - Have you met a Crocodile somewhere nearby? It's so easy to get lost here!

- Did I meet a Crocodile? asked Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent contemptuously. - Found something to ask!

- Excuse me, please! - continued the Elephant. - Can you tell me what the Crocodile eats at dinner?

Then the Two-Colored Python, the Rocky Serpent, could no longer resist, quickly turned around and gave the Baby Elephant a cuff with his huge tail. And his tail was like a threshing flail and covered with scales.

- These are miracles! - said the Elephant. Not only did my father beat me, and my mother beat me, and my uncle beat me, and my other uncle, Baboon, beat me, and my aunt beat me, and my other aunt, Behemoth, beat me, and all I was beaten as is for my terrible curiosity - here, as I see, the same story begins.

And he very politely said goodbye to the Two-Colored Python, the Rock Serpent, helped him wrap himself around the rock again and went on; he was well beaten, but he was not very surprised at this, but again took hold of the melons and again threw the crusts on the ground - because, I repeat, what would he use to lift them? - and soon came across a log lying on the very bank of the sleepy, fetid, muddy-green Limpopo River, surrounded by trees that make everyone feverish.

But really, my dear boy, it wasn't a log, it was a Crocodile. And the Crocodile winked with one eye - like that!

- Excuse me, please! - the Elephant cub turned to him extremely courteously. - Did you happen to meet a Crocodile somewhere nearby in these parts?

The crocodile winked its other eye and stuck its tail half out of the water. The baby elephant (again, very politely!) stepped back, because he did not want to receive another cuff.

"Come here, my little one!" Crocodile said. “Why do you really need it?”

- Excuse me, please! said the Baby Elephant extremely courteously. - My father beat me and my mother beat me, my lanky aunt Ostrich beat me and my long-legged uncle Giraffe beat me, my other aunt, a fat Hippo, beat me, and my other uncle, a furry Baboon, beat me, and Python The Two-Colored Rocky Serpent has just been beating me very, very painfully, and now - don't be angry - I don't want to be beaten again.

“Come here, my little one,” said the Crocodile, “because I am the Crocodile.”

And he began to shed crocodile tears to show that he really was a Crocodile.

The baby elephant was overjoyed. He was breathless, he fell to his knees and shouted:

- I need you! I've been looking for you for so many days! Tell me, please, quickly, what do you eat for dinner?

Come closer, I'll whisper in your ear.

The baby elephant bent his head close, close to the toothy, fanged crocodile mouth, and the Crocodile grabbed him by the little nose, which until this very week, until this very day, until this very hour, until this very minute, was no more than a shoe.

- It seems to me, - said the Crocodile, and said through his teeth, like this, - it seems to me that today I will have a Baby Elephant for the first dish.

The baby elephant, my dear boy, didn’t like it terribly, and he spoke through his nose:

“Pusdide trouble, where there’s a lot of pain!” (Let me go, it hurts a lot!)

Then the Bicolor Python, the Rock Serpent, approached him and said:

“If you, O my young friend, do not immediately recoil back as long as you have enough strength, then my opinion is that you will not have time to say “one, two three!”, as a result of your conversation with this leather bag (so he called the Crocodile) you will get there, into that transparent water stream ...

Bicolor Pythons, Rock Serpents, always talk like this.

The baby elephant sat on its hind legs and began to pull back. He pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose began to stretch. And the Crocodile stepped back further into the water, foamed it like whipped cream with heavy blows of his tail, and also pulled, and pulled, and pulled.

And the Baby Elephant's nose was stretched out, and the Baby Elephant spread all four legs, such tiny elephant legs, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept stretching. And the Crocodile beat with his tail, like an oar, and also pulled, and pulled, and the more he pulled, the longer the Elephant's nose stretched out, and it hurt this nose really, well, terrible!

And suddenly the Baby Elephant felt that his legs were slipping on the ground, and he cried out through his nose, which became almost five feet long:

— Dovoldo! Osdavide! I'm more de god! (Enough! Leave! I can't take it anymore!)

Hearing this, the Two-Colored Python, the Rock Serpent, rushed down from the cliff, wrapped a double knot around the hind legs of the Baby Elephant and said:

“O inexperienced and frivolous traveler! We must exert ourselves as much as possible, because my impression is that this warship with a live propeller and an armored deck (that's how he called the Crocodile) wants to ruin your future ...

Bicolor Pythons, Rock Serpents, always express themselves like this.

And now the Serpent is pulling, the Elephant is pulling, but the Crocodile is also pulling. Pulling, pulling, but as Baby Elephant and Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent, pull harder, Crocodile eventually has to release Baby Elephant's nose, and Crocodile flies back with such a splash that is heard throughout Limpopo.

And the Baby Elephant both stood and sat down and hit very painfully, but still managed to say thank you to the Bicolor Python, the Rocky Serpent, and then he began to look after his elongated nose: he wrapped it in cold banana leaves and lowered it into the water of a sleepy, muddy green river Limpopo to cool down a bit.

Why are you doing this? said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent.

- Excuse me, please! - said the Elephant. - My nose has lost its former appearance, and I am waiting for it to become short again.

“You will have to wait a long time,” said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent. “I mean, it’s amazing how others don’t understand their own benefit!”

The baby elephant sat above the water for three days and kept waiting to see if his nose would become shorter. However, the nose did not become shorter, and - moreover, because of this nose, the Elephant's eyes became a little slanted.

Because, my dear boy, I hope you have already guessed that the Crocodile pulled the Baby Elephant's nose into the most real trunk - exactly the same as all the current Elephants have.

By the end of the third day, some fly flew in and Stung the Baby Elephant on the shoulder, and he, without noticing what he was doing, raised his trunk and slapped the fly.

Here's your first benefit! said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent. - Well, judge for yourself: could you do something like that with your old pin nose? By the way, would you like to eat?

And the Baby Elephant, not knowing how he did it, stretched his trunk to the ground, picked a good bunch of grass, slapped it on his front legs to shake off the dust, and immediately put it into his mouth.

Here's your second benefit! said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent. “You should try to do it with your old pin nose!” By the way, have you noticed that the sun has become too hot?

- Perhaps that is so! - said the Elephant.

And, not knowing himself how he did it, he scooped up some silt with his trunk from the sleepy, fetid, muddy-green Limpopo River and slapped it on his head; wet silt crumbled into a cake, and whole streams of water flowed behind the Elephant's ears.

"Here's your third benefit!" said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent. “You should try to do it with your old pin nose!” And by the way, what do you think about cuffs now?

“Excuse me, please,” said the Baby Elephant, “but I really don’t like cuffs.

- And blow someone else up? said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent.

- It's my pleasure! - said the Elephant.

You don't know your nose yet! said Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent. “It's just a treasure, not a nose. It will piss off anyone.

“Thank you,” said the Baby Elephant, “I will take note of this. And now it's time for me to go home. I will go to my dear relatives and check my nose.

And the Elephant went through Africa, having fun and waving his trunk.

If he wants fruit, he picks them straight from the tree, and does not stand and wait, as before, for them to fall to the ground. He wants weed - he tears it right off the ground, and does not thump on his knees, as he used to. Flies bother him - he will pick a branch from a tree and wave it like a fan. The sun is hot - he will lower his trunk into the river, and now he has a cold, wet blotch on his head. It is boring for him to roam around Africa alone - he plays songs with his trunk, and his trunk is much louder than hundreds of copper pipes.

He deliberately turned off the road to find the fat Behemoth (she was not even his relative), give her a good beating and check if the Bicolor Python, Rock Serpent, told him the truth about his new nose. Having beaten Behemoth, he went along the old road and picked up from the ground those melon peels that he scattered on the way to Limpopo - because he was a Clean Thick-skinned.

It was getting dark when one fine evening he came home to his dear relatives. He curled his trunk into a ring and said:

- Hello! How are you doing?

They rejoiced terribly at him and immediately said with one voice:

“Come, come here, we will give you cuffs for your unbearable curiosity!”

- Oh you! - said the Elephant. - You know a lot about cuffs! Here's what I understand about this. Do you want me to show you?

And he turned his trunk, and immediately two of his Dear brothers flew upside down from him.

- We swear by bananas! they shouted. “Where are you so sharpened up and what’s wrong with your nose?”

“This nose is new to me, and the Crocodile gave it to me on the sleepy, fetid, muddy green Limpopo River,” said the Baby Elephant. “I started a conversation with him about what he eats at dinner, and he gave me a new nose as a keepsake.

- Ugly nose! - said the hairy, shaggy uncle Baboon.

“Perhaps,” said the Elephant. - But useful!

And he grabbed the hairy Uncle Baboon by the hairy leg and, swinging it, threw it into the hornet's nest.

And this angry Baby Elephant went so far that he beat off every single one of his dear relatives. He beat them, beat them, so that they became hot, and they looked at him in amazement. He pulled almost all of her feathers out of the tail of the lanky aunt Ostrich; he grabbed the long-legged Uncle Giraffe by the hind leg and dragged him through the thorny bushes; he woke up his fat aunt Behemoth with a loud cry when she was sleeping after dinner, and began to blow bubbles right into her ear, but he did not allow anyone to offend the Kolokolo bird.

It got to the point that all his relatives - some earlier, some later - went to the sleepy, fetid, muddy-green Limpopo River, surrounded by trees that make everyone feverish, so that the Crocodile would give them the same nose.

When they returned, no one cuffed anyone again, and since then, my boy, all the Elephants that you will ever see, and even those that you will never see, all have exactly the same trunk as this one curious Elephant.