DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zkh1893g4
title: Data from: Elephants develop wrinkles through both form and function

description: Elephant trunks have folds and wrinkles, but we don’t know how wrinkles
 differ between elephant species and how trunks and their wrinkles develop.
 Adult Asian elephants have significantly more dorsal major trunk wrinkles
 (~126 ± 25 SD) than African elephants (~83 ± 13 SD). There are more dorsal
 than ventral major trunk wrinkles and there is a closer wrinkle spacing
 distally than proximally. Wrinkle numbers differed slightly as a function
 of trunk-lateralization. MicroCT-imaging revealed a relatively constant
 thickness of the outer elephant trunk skin, whereas the inner skin parts
 are thicker between folds than in folds. The trunk shows the greatest
 fetal length growth of elephant body parts. Trunk wrinkles are added in an
 early exponential phase, where wrinkles double every 20 days, and a later
 phase, where wrinkles are added slowly and at a faster rate in Asian
 compared to African elephants. We suggest wrinkles improve the ability of
 trunk skin to bend.
description: The full methods section is included in both the manuscript and
 the supplement. 
description: # Data from: Elephants develop wrinkles through both form and function
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zkh1893g4](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zkh1893g4) ## Description of the data and file structure The data is included on two Excel files. For reading and understanding data all files are labeled with headers that indicate the specific figure/table that the data is used for. The relationship between the two Excel files is separate as one of the files is from microCT data gathered and exported from ImageJ where the other Excel file is from elephant wrinkle counts and comparisons between African and Asian elephants as well as across different developmental stages. ### Files and variables #### File: MicroCT\_AmpWaveData.xlsx **Description:**  One Excel file contains (MicroCT Ampthe data gathered from ImageJ for the amplitude and wavelength data of the MicroCT scans of the baby African and Asian elephants included in the manuscript (shown in Figure 4 and plotted in Figure 5). On the file, all lengths, wavelengths, distance units, etc., are labeled with specific units. Headers indicate if it is the African or Asian elephant displayed. ##### Variables * Wavelength - wavelength of the wrinkles from the microCT shown in Figure 4 at different distances from the tip (in mm) * Amplitude - amplitude of the wrinkles from the microCT shown in Figure 4 at different distances from the tip (in mm) * Distance from the tip - this specifies the distance from the tip (in mm) from which the wavelength and amplitude values are.  #### File: EleWrinkle\_RawData.xlsx **Description:** Single Excel sheet displaying data from the rest of the manuscript that is not included in the supplemental tables including raw data of major and minor wrinkle numbers of different animals listed in the supplementary tables of the manuscript. Data included is labeled with headers that include what specific figure in the manuscript corresponds to the data utilized.  ##### Variables * Wrinkle number (#) of major wrinkles and minor wrinkles * Sex of elephant listed as male (m) or female (f) * Species of elephant listed as either Africna elephants (Loxodonta africana) or Asian elephant (Elephas Maximus) * Name of Elephant - names can be shown also in the supplemental table 1 and 2.  * Wrinkle position distances from the zero line between the elephants eyes in percentage.  * Wrinkles and Whisker positions (left/right) indicating the wrinkle number on left versus right side  * Wrinkle number in different zones including base, shaft, and tip  #### File: README.md **Description:**  File giving information about the specific dataset and programs used to interpret analyze the data from the two Excel files included in the dataset.  ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * All data from the manuscript is included or referenced in the manuscript.  Data was derived from the following sources: * Data was taken from previously published photos of elephant fetuses with references to those publications included in the manuscript. ## Sharing/Access information Specific methods for all data collection and curation are included in the main text and supplementary information in the manuscripts. ## Code/Software Python, MATLAB, ImageJ, and RStudio were utilized for interpreting and plotting the data. Specifically, certain types of statistical tests were used to interpret each of the data sets. The specific statistical test for each data set is included in the manuscript corresponding with each individual use case.