What mammal has a trunk?

The elephant is the mammal with a trunk. An elephant’s trunk is a highly flexible nose-and-upper-lip structure that works as both a sensory organ and a powerful tool.

Elephants use their trunks to breathe, smell, touch, drink, trumpet, and pick up food. The trunk contains tens of thousands of muscles, allowing it to perform delicate tasks such as plucking grass or holding a single leaf, as well as forceful work such as pushing branches aside. Elephants do not drink through the trunk like a straw; they draw water into it and then pour the water into their mouths.

Modern elephants belong to the family Elephantidae and are the only living members of the order Proboscidea. The family includes two living genera: Elephas, containing the Asian elephant, and Loxodonta, containing the African bush and African forest elephants. Mammoths and mastodons were also proboscideans, but they are extinct.

Another common mix-up concerns tusks. Tusks are enlarged incisor teeth, whereas the trunk is a modified nose and upper lip. Both structures help elephants feed, communicate, defend themselves, and interact with their environment.