Trunks give elephants the best sense of smell in mammal kingdom

An elephant’s trunk is not only long, it is packed with five times more smell receptors than humans. And now research has found that the African elephants have the greatest sense of smell among mammals – even beating dogs including the bloodhound renowned for its sniffing ability.

Humans were found to have the worst sense of smell across the species studied. According to the researchers, the African elephant can detect water from miles away and use their olfactory ability to detect predators at a distance, find food or a mate.

The study, published in the journal Genome Research, examined the olfactory receptor (OR) range in 13 mammalian species.

These included horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, cows, rodents and chimpanzees.

They found the African elephant has the largest number of OR genes ever characterised

To characterise the olfactory capabilities of different mammals, researchers examined genome sequences from 13 placental mammals and identified over 10,000 OR genes in total.

The repertoire of OR genes found in any given species was highly unique – only three OR genes were shared and evolutionarily conserved amongst all 13 mammals.

Yet, the African elephant had the most extensive olfactory repertoire, with almost 2,000 OR genes.

Dr Yoshihito Niimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University said: ‘The functions of these genes are not well known, but they are likely important for the living environment of African elephants.

‘Apparently, an elephant’s nose is not only long but also superior.’

By contrast humans, along with our primate relatives, have much fewer numbers of OR genes compared to all other species examined, possibly because we rely less on smell as our sight improved.