TLDR: > According to a study published in 2015, the length of the elephant’s trunk is proportional to the amount of food it can cram in its mouth, and most lik

TLDR: > According to a study published in 2015, the length of the elephant’s trunk is proportional to the amount of food it can cram in its mouth, and most likely evolved in response to the declining nutritional content of the leaves on which it feeds. So St Ambrose was right: > ‘Since it is taller than every other animal’, he explained in the Hexameron, ‘it cannot bend down to feed. Therefore, it makes use of its trunk both to gather its food and to pour copious draughts of water down its throat.’