Amazing dexterity of forest elephant's trunk used to gather palm fronds, then positive power of poo!

An elephant's trunk is the most versatile limb in the animal kingdom. A combined nose and upper lip, it is as flexible as an octopus's tentacle, has a delicate grip to pluck a leaf and is powerful enough to lift a log; it has no bones, but works by means of 100,000 muscle units and has two nostrils running down the length of it. Watch this #ForestElephant in Congo prepare each mouthful of palm fronds and consider the ecological impact...
On #WorldElephantDay, 12th August, remember the relevance of elephants in maintaining the health of the forest. An elephant eats about four per cent of its body weight in vegetation each day, much of which passes through undigested. This means every adult elephant produces roughly one tonne of dung – aka first-class organic manure – every week, enriching the soils of the forests and savannahs in 50 countries (there are 37 elephant range states in Africa and 13 in Asia).
Not only is elephant dung packed with nutrients; after a mammoth meal of fruit or seed pods, it is studded with seeds. Elephants disperse more seeds of more species of trees, lianas and other plants, over longer distances than any other animal. Such is their beneficial role in forest-savannah landscapes, they have been dubbed ‘super-keystone species’ and ‘mega- #GardenersoftheForest’.
Their size is important, because while trees with small seeds can be dispersed by fruit-eating birds and primates, those with big seeds need big animals to be able to swallow them. Some species, such as the African rainforest tree Balanites wilsoniana, are solely dependent upon elephants for the next generation (as, therefore, are any insects that feed on its leaves or bark, and to a lesser extent any birds, bats and reptiles that feed on those insects).
Tropical forests are essential to our efforts to stabilise the climate, and the health of the forest depends on the seed-dispersing animals.
More info here: http://geographical.co.uk/opinion/item/1870-ecological-effects

Видео Amazing dexterity of forest elephant's trunk used to gather palm fronds, then positive power of poo! канала Ian Redmond