Elephant trunks: Strength and dexterity from mini-fascicles

William Olson; Linghua Zhang; Daniel H O'Connor; David Kleinfeld

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.012

Elephant trunks: Strength and dexterity from mini-fascicles

Curr Biol. 2023 Nov 20;33(22):R1203-R1205. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.012.

Authors

William Olson¹, Linghua Zhang², Daniel H O'Connor³, David Kleinfeld⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Electronic address: wolson6@jhmi.edu.
² Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Electronic address: llzhan132@jhmi.edu.
³ Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Electronic address: dan.oconnor@jhmi.edu.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Neurobiology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: dkleinfeld@ucsd.edu.

PMID: 37989101
PMCID: PMC11039408 (available on 2024-11-20)
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.012

Abstract

Muscular hydrostats, such as the elephant trunk, can perform precise motor actions. A new study has revealed that the elephant trunk contains a dense network of tiny muscle fascicles, suggesting that muscle miniaturization may be a key toward understanding how soft organs achieve both strength and dexterity.

MeSH terms

Animals
Elephants*
Muscle, Skeletal

Grants and funding

U19 NS107466/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States