Gray Scale © 2008 Bo Mackison

This big guy was one of only a few animals outside at the zoo on this chilly winter morning, though he didn’t seem to mind the 27˙F. weather. While I took his picture, he fed himself his breakfast hay swinging his trunk up and down.

I was so amazed at the dexterity of his trunk, I checked out a few facts about elephants on Wikipedia. This is an Asian elephant – only one “finger” around the lip of his trunk. (The African elephant has two.) And what I found most amazing – scientists estimate there are between 40,000 and 100,000 muscles in an elephant’s trunk. The trunk is such a finely tuned instrument, an elephant can as easily pick up a single blade of grass as he can tear down a medium sized tree. Check out the facts about elephants on Wiki and you’ll come away amazed. Guaranteed.

Milwaukee County Zoo
Milwaukee, WI
March 1, 2008