Here’s Proof: Baby elephants can’t control their trunks

• A Twitter video shows a newborn elephant swinging its trunk like a helicopter or turbine fan.
• Elephants typically don’t learn to control their trunks until they are about a year old.
• With over 50,000 muscle units in the trunk, it’s a difficult ability to learn.

We know baby elephants don’t learn to control their trunks for a year. A Twitter video shows a newborn elephant swinging its trunk like a helicopter or turbine fan. The elephant playing with birds makes the video more charming.

“Baby elephants typically don’t learn to control their trunks until they are about a year old, which may result in behavior like this.” reads the caption on the 38 million-view Twitter video.

Baby elephants typically don't learn to control their trunks until they're about a year old, which may result in behavior like this. pic.twitter.com/DSMdrpHQ5L

— Fascinating (@fasc1nate) October 19, 2022

This unusual action is common in calves learning to control their trunks, according to National Geographic.

Reminds me of this little chappie I filmed 10 years ago. Look how proud when he plucks a single piece of grass! pic.twitter.com/LU3wCmucuY

— DeeGee (@DavidGG60) October 19, 2022

Joyce Poole, an elephant expert, believes this may be displacement behaviour, where juvenile elephants swing their feet and twist their trunks when they’re unsure of their next step.

Another user submitted a 10-year-old video of a “little chappie” straining to control his trunk and proudly plucking a patch of grass.

According to the ranger’s blog at South Africa’s Tintswalo Safari Lodge, infant elephants place their trunk in their mouth like human babies stick their thumbs, but with over 50,000 muscle units in the trunk, it’s a difficult ability to learn.

The article noted that calves learn to use their trunks for eating and drinking between 6 and 8 months and can manage them like adult elephants by a year.

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