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A nose with two nostrils is a trait common to almost all animals, and for good reason. The nose gives us an extra sensation through its ability to sniff, but it also serves as an important conduit for air to enter the lungs. But while most animals use their nose exclusively for these two purposes, quite a few animals have developed much more elongated appendages. As is common with evolutionary change, these long noses serve a purpose. Here are seven animals with the largest noses – along with why they created them at all.
# 7: Elephant Shrew – Nose as a Food Gatherer
A large nose can often compensate for bad feelings elsewhere, but this is not the case with the elephant shrew. This tiny mammal has exceptional eyesight and hearing in addition to a strong sense of smell. Their long noses may look like a scaled-down version of an elephant’s trunk, but it’s not all that flexible. Instead, they use their nose in the same way that aardvarks do – they sweep the ground to unbalance insects and small invertebrates and then swallow them. This is an effective method that has allowed them to spread widely throughout Africa.
These animals play an important role in their ecosystem by managing populations of native insects. They can be trusted to manage populations of both ants and termites where they are common. They also use their large noses to track each other’s smells, and marking territory with scent glands is a common social habit of these monogamous and territorial assholes.
Despite the fact that the aardvark is very similar to the anteater, it is closer to the elephant. While these creatures cannot use their long muzzles to craft tools and wield weapons, they can use them for hunting. The anteater uses its claws to uproot nests of termites and ants, and then uses its long nose to suck in these insects in huge numbers. In one evening, aardvark can eat up to 50,000 insects, and they inhale them without chewing. Aardvarks are nocturnal scavengers with poor eyesight, so they rely on their nose as their central form of navigation. The ten bones in the nose create a sense of smell that is superior to any breed of dog.
The anteater shows how dramatic evolution can evolve to occupy a very specific niche in an ecosystem. Through patient evolution, aardvarks have developed the ability to completely block their nostrils and thus keep them from becoming clogged by insects and dust.
# 5: the star-nosed mole – the nose as a means of navigation
Although many animals use their sense of smell to navigate in the dark, none of them do it in the same way as the star-bearing mole. Its face is covered with a mass of writhing tentacles. The 22 tentacles surrounding its nose contain roughly 100,000 nerve endings – more than five times that of humans. This is a real feat when you consider that these moles are less than half a meter long. In the dark tunnels and shallow waters where this mole moves, sight is far from necessary, and the star-bearing mole has developed a unique method of observing the world around it.
Their large nasal tentacles move in unison, and each can touch up to ten objects per second. It’s hard to imagine how this almost supernaturally enhanced sense of touch should feel, but it allows them to effectively map their underground environment, as well as identify and evaluate prey such as worms and insects in a matter of milliseconds. This sensory input is completely different from their actual olfactory ability, although they do have the ability to sniff underwater.
# 4: Monkey Probosi – Nose as a built-in amplifier
Often a long nose exists to help navigate a dark world or find food, but sometimes it is designed to attract a partner. Proboscis monkeys are known for their huge and bulging noses, but males have much larger noses, and males with the largest noses tend to do best with the opposite sex. While these noses do not serve any functional purpose outside of the mating process, they are an example of how seemingly harmless traits can lead to certain sexual selection preferences in a species.
In this case, this is due to several overlapping factors. Male proboscis monkeys contain female harems, and success – at least in an evolutionary sense – depends on having as much harem as possible. On average about half a foot in length, these noses can project the mating call of a male monkey onto a large group of females, but larger noses also tend to match larger bodies, suggesting that the male may be pursuing both threats and competitors. The researchers even matched a large nose with a proportionally small population of dogs – a trait they say increases their effectiveness as gatherers.
# 3: Tapirs – Nose as a food invader
The tapir’s long nose resembles the trunk of an elephant, and the resemblance goes beyond mere physical appearance. The noses of this animal are tenacious, which allows them to move quite sophisticatedly over objects in their environment. Like an elephant, this trunk covers both the upper lip and nose of the tapir. Various types of tapirs can be found in the jungle, grasslands and even some mountainous regions of Central and South America, and they all mainly use this elongated snout to pull vegetation and fruit from branches that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Unlike the aardvark, tapirs do not rely on their nose as a substitute for near-blindness. Although they do not have the best eyesight in the animal kingdom, these animals can orient themselves well with vision and better with hearing. But their trunks do help enhance the sense of smell. By lifting their tenacious trunk from their mouths and exposing their teeth, they can activate the so-called Flemen reaction, warning themselves about everything: from food sources to threats to potential partners.
The sawfish doesn’t just have a big nose – it has a large nose that looks suspiciously like a chainsaw. Although their noses cannot be corrected, they are an effective hunting tool. Scientists have long observed how sawfish use their unique large nose to sift through the sand and find crustaceans to eat. But recent discoveries have made it clear that they also use their nose as a weapon to kill prey. And sifting through loose sand isn’t the only way to use their nose when hunting. Tiny sensors are embedded across the entire nose of this fish, and they allow it to detect the electric fields that living organisms emit.
Sawfish do not attack humans, but this seems less reassuring when you consider the fact that these fish can grow up to 25 feet in length.
It was once thought that humans are the only animals capable of using tools, but elephants disprove this theory with the creative and varied ways they manipulate their flexible nose. An elephant’s trunk can reach seven feet and weigh up to 400 pounds, and it was formed from the fusion of its nose and lip. Elephants have been observed to hold branches with their trunks and use them to ward off flies and scratch leathery hides. And as a sign of higher intelligence, they even use their trunks to cut branches and turn them into more efficient tools.
But besides carrying and throwing objects into the environment, the torso can also serve as a surprisingly delicate sensory organ. Trunks are used to touch and caress other elephants in demonstration of affection, and they use these trunks to understand the texture, shape, and weight of objects around them. Elephants such as the Indian elephant and the Asian elephant have even been seen touching their trunks to the ground to feel vibrations from afar.
Next: New Research: A giant carnivorous sloth once roamed the Earth
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