Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-08-12
THE ELEPHANTS TRUNK.
Recent Discoveries Reveal Just How
He Got It.


The recent discoveries of fossil re.
mains of ancestral proboscideans in
the tertiary deposits of the Fayum dis
trict of Egypt, combined with a care
full study of the skeleton OF certain
species of mastodon known to science
for many years, have enabled DR.. Z.
w. Andrews Proceedings Of the Royal
Society to indicate very clearly the
manner in which the trunk of the mod
ern elephants has been gradually
evolved.
The ancestral proboscideans were
comparatively small and short-legged
animals, which had, of course, no dill
ficulty in putting their mouths to the
ground AS the successors of these
primitive forms gradually increased in
bodily stature, and more especially in
length OF limb and size of head, 1t Will
be obvious that in order to be able to
obtain food or water from the level OF
the ground they must either have in
crearsed the length of the neck or
have developed special prolongation
of the muzzle. But in the case OF
large and heayy-headed animals,
whose successors were destined to car
r. the enormous tusks of the extinct
mastodons and modern elephants, 1t
will be further manifest that an In
crease in the length of the vertebrae
of the neck. and hence of the neck 1t
slf, would, from mechanical considera'
tions, have been impossible. Accord
iugly, the only practicable course was
the elongation of the muzzle.
In the earliest forms the lower jaw
was short and heavy, with the union
between the two branches (symphysis)
very massive. On the other hand, in
many of the early mastodons the lower
jaw had become very long, and ter.
minated in a long trough-like sym.
physis. To accord with this prolonga.
tion of the lower jaw it is quite evident
that the upper lip and nose must likaI.
wise have been elongated, and thsnS
probably formed kind of proboscis, d.
which the tip was most likely more or
less prehensible For some reason or
other, no sooner had the prolongatlon
OF the lower jaw attained its maximum
development than the length of its
trougn-like symphysis began to dimin'
ist, till the structure eliminated in the
short snout found in the later masto-
dons and the modern elephants. Dur.
ing these changes the length of the
proboscis must have continued to in.
crease, while it's flexibility and tactile
power were likewise at the same time
augmented, till the structure attained
it's full development in the elephants
of today.
In this connection it may be noticed
that the trunk of the African elephant
differs very markedly in structure
from that of the Indian species by its
segmented structure, so that it has
the appearance of being composed of
a number of distinct pieces, one of
which slides into the other, like. the
joints of telescope. The Indian ele'
plants trunk, on the other hand, is
uniformly elastic throughout, and may
be compared to tapering India-rubber
hosepipe. 1t is evidently more high
ly specialized structure than Is the
proboscis of the African species. Dur
ing the time that the lower jaw and
trunk were being gradually developed
into their present form the tusks and
cheek teeth were likewise undergoing
a process OF development which has
eliminated in the condition obtaining
in the Indian elephant. Since, how
ever, the later stages of this develop
ment will be found described in ZOO
logical text books, it need not be
further referred to on this occasion.
Till the Egyptian discoveries the ori-
gin of the proboscidea was problem
that had baffleI palaeontologists, while
evolutionists were equally at loss to
account for the mode Of origin OF
hat most marvellous structure, the
elephants proboscis. Thanks to DR..
Andrews, both problems have been sat
isfactorily solved, and we are thus
able to add one more fairly complete
pedigree to the history of animal life.
London Field.