Is it a lefty or righty?

Elephants’ trunks show their habits. QIANTU

Elephants are left- or right-trunked

大象也分“左撇子”和“右撇子”

Some people are left-handed, while others are right-handed. But did you know that elephants are left- or right-trunked? People can tell this by looking at the wrinkles (褶皱) on their trunks (象鼻), a study in Science found.

Elephants use their trunks to do many things like picking up food and sending information to other elephants. The muscles (肌肉) and wrinkles on the trunk help them do this. Wrinkles make the trunk move more freely.

According to scientists, elephants like to bend (弯曲) their trunks to one side to put food in their mouths. Over time, this side of the trunk gets more wrinkles than the other. This makes them left- or right-trunked.

Know your left-right habits

More wrinkles on the top

Asian elephants have more wrinkles on the top of their trunks than African (非洲的) elephants. African elephants have two finger-like (指状的) things at the end of their trunks to help them pick things up. But Asian elephants have only one. So, Asian elephants wrap (卷) their trunks around things more often than African elephants do. This gives them more wrinkles.