African savannah elephant sniffing the air was it detects people coming close to it as it feeds in a swamp.

Stare Down

Zambia, Africa

Elephants have an exceptionally powerful sense of smell, with around 2,000 olfactory receptor genes - more than any other known land animal and significantly more than dogs. An elephants' nostrils are at the tip of its trunk. They smell by moving their trunks back and forth to capture air samples that they then direct to the millions of scent receptor cells in their nasal cavity. They may wave their trunks in the air to pick up and analyze these scents, a process that is crucial for finding food, locating water, identifying threats, and social communication.

Photo © copyright by Dr. Edward Mikol.

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