How Does an Elephant Use its Trunk

The trunk of an elephant is a muscular, flexible extension this mammals upper lip and nose. African savanna elephants and African forest elephants have trunks with two finger-like growths at their tip; the trunks of Asian elephants have only one such fingerlike growth. These structures, also known as proboscides (singular: proboscis), enable the elephants to grasp food and other small objects, in the same way that primates use their flexible fingers. All species of elephants use their trunks to strip vegetation from branches and to pull grass from the ground, at which point they shovel the vegetable matter into their mouths. How Elephants Use Their Trunks To relieve their thirst, elephants suck water up into their trunks from rivers and watering holes--the trunk of an adult elephant can hold up to ten quarts of water! As with its food, the elephant then squirts the water into its mouth. African elephants also use their trunks to take dust baths, which help to repel insects and guard against the harmful rays of the sun (where the temperature can easily exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit). To give itself a dust bath, an African elephant sucks dust into its trunk, then bends its trunk overhead and blows the dust out over its back. (Fortunately, this dust doesnt cause the elephant to sneeze, which one imagines would startle any wildlife in its immediate vicinity.) Besides its efficiency as a tool for eating, drinking and taking dust baths, the trunk of an elephant is a unique structure that plays a fundamental part in this animals olfactory system. Elephants point their trunks in different directions to sample the air for scents, and when swimming (which they do as rarely as possible), they hold their trunks out of the water like snorkels so they can breath. Their trunks are also sensitive and dexterous enough to enable elephants to pick up objects of various sizes, judge their wieght and composition, and in some instances even to fend off attackers (the flailing trunk of an elephant wont do much damage to a charging lion, but it can make the pachyderm seem like more trouble than its worth, causing the big cat to seek out more tractable prey). How did the elephant evolve its characteristic trunk? As with all such innovations in the animal kingdom, this structure gradually developed over tens of millions of years, as the ancestors of modern elephants adjusted to the changing requirements of their ecosystems. The earliest identified elephant ancestors, like the pig-sized Phiomia of 50 million years ago, had no trunks at all; but as competition for the leaves of trees and shrubs increased, so did the incentive for a way to harvest vegetation that would otherwise be out of reach. Essentially speaking, the elephant evolved its trunk for the same reason the giraffe evolved its long neck!

Does regular exercise reduce stress levels, and thus...

Does regular exercise reduce stress levels, and thus reduce symptoms of depression? There is a very complex relationship between stressful situations, our mind and body’s reaction to stress and the onset of depression. Some people develop depression after going through stressful events in their lives, such as the death of someone close, loss of job and other negative and traumatic problems that can cause large amount of stress (Prentiss, 2009). These problems make us experience a mixture of physical and emotional effects that can create stress as a positive or negative feeling. The human body is designed to experience and react to stress; it can be both a positive and negative influence. Positive stress can give a person the drive and†¦show more content†¦They found that an exercise training programme could be an alternative treatment for MDD. Although antidepressants had a more rapid response than exercise, after 16 weeks of exercise the effectiveness in reducing depression was equal to the anti-depressants. A study also found tha t a single bout of exercise could result in substantial improvements in mood, which shows that it’s not just duration and frequency. However, it may be that the improvement in mood is only temporary (Dimeo et al., 2001). Lawler and Hopker (2001) stated that effectiveness of exercise on depression couldn’t be determined due to lack of quality research based on clinical populations. They also wrote that the explanations of the results may have been that depressed patients who did regular exercise could have got positive feedback from other people and a sense of self worth, which may act as a diversion from negative thoughts. Physical activity was found to be linked with less coexisting depression, which remains the same after controlling for gender, age, and race. The results of the study showed that physical activity is helpful with medical problems, life stressors and quality of sleep (Harris et al., 2006). Comparing recent studies shows that there may be a link between exercises and reducing stress levels, there are a lot of disagreements with the duration and types of exercise thatShow MoreRelatedDepression And Its Effects On Depression1687 Words   |  7 Pages Depression is a psychoneurotic disorder characterized by lingering sadness, inactivity, and difficulty in thinking and concentration. Depression is one of the most common psychiatric conditions encountered (â€Å"Depression†). Doctors have all types of antidepressants that have been used worldwide for patients with depression. Introduced in the late 1950’s, antidepressants were used to accomplish their task by inhibiting the body’s reabsorption of these neurotransmitters, thus allowing them to accumulateRead MoreThe Big Scary Word Stress1244 Words   |  5 PagesThe big scary word STRESS! 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Scholarship Essay Master of Fine Arts Example For Students

Scholarship Essay Master of Fine Arts Earned my Bachelors of Vine Arts Degree in Art Design in 2006 from . Since graduating, I have held two artist residencies and worked as an arts educator in impoverished urban and rural communities. These experiences have made me crave the ability to affect more people in new places with my work, which is why Would like to pursue a Master of Pine Arts degree. Scotland has a rich, 10,000-year-old history. I van to investigate the history of Glasgow shipbuilding industry. M fascinated by formerly industry based urban areas, and how the populations once in these industries (whether it is shipbuilding in Glasgow, steel in Baltimore, or cars in Detroit) change and are affected differently during the height, decline, and renewal periods of the industrial-economic shift. For a performance artist, the Glasgow School of Fine Art provides the perfect academic and cultural environment. The Sagas strong support of students creating work in a variety of media, especially time-based work and perfo rmance, make it a perfect match for my approach to art making. The School is a small, highly focused international community of artists that encourages socially engaged artwork. Several of the Schools faculty members, a number OTTOMH are performances artists, have received or been finalists for the Turner prize. Because the focus of my work is on the reenactment and creative exploration of local histories, I seek to study under Julie Roberts, Edward Stewart, Stephanie Smith, and Alan Curran, Roberts is known for her paintings that investigate objects associated with medical institutions. Edward Stewart and Stephanie Smith are performance artists concerned with researching the politics of identity and gender. Alan Accrual is a master of using his elite, relationships, and surroundings as creative media. Am eager to see how my work responds to, benefits from, and is challenged by an entirely new academic and cultural environment. Anticipate my work in the MEA Program will combine historical research, performance, painting, and installation to further my creative investigation Of local histories. Vision my creative research as a sustained and thorough inquiry into the history of the people, places, and events surrounding the shipbuilding industry in Glasgow.

The San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art Essays -

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was the first museum on the west coast dedicated to 20th century art. It first opened in 1935 but underwent a major renovation and opened a new museum facility designed by renowned Swiss architect Mario Botta in January of 1995. Botta used a lot of historical influences, but the most prevalent is definitely the influence of Roman architecture. The two most obvious arguments for that are the fact that the building is a civicly themed building and the fact that it dominates the surrounding area. But some the other arguments that can be made are the size and shape, and the unusual addition of an oculus in the roof. It also fits into the grid of the city streets surrounding it, much in the way Romans organized their buildings. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (hereafter referred to as the SFMOMA) is most defiantly a civicly oriented building. Museums usually are, as they hold treasures for the people of the city to admire, but the SFMOMA goes beyond that. It is a symbol of pride for the people of San Francisco, and is known throughout the country as such. It was called ?A vibrant new heart for art in San Francisco,? by Morton Beebe in Smithsonian Magazine, July 1995. Millions of people go through the doors to see the constantly changing exhibitions in the many galleries. As the meuseuem was being renovated, this was probably a consideration. So, taking in to account that people would come from around the world to see not only what was inside, but the building itself, Botta designed a structure that was not only efficient, but pleasing to view as well. That is why the SFMOMA is a civicly themed building.