The African elephant has 1948 scent-detecting genes. Elephants can smell their favourite grass a mile away, and can detect water 12 miles away. An elephant’s trunk has numerous receptors, and elephants use their trunks for smelling and grasping things.
Given the size of their trunks, and how important it is to their survival, it is probably unsurprising that an elephant’s nose is not only the longest in the animal kingdom, but also the most effective.
The authors then 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.
Surprisingly, the African elephant had the most extensive olfactory repertoire, with almost 2,000 OR genes.
Picture Credit : Google