ABOUT THE ELEPHANT

General Information 

The elephant shown in Dr. Rosie Helps the Animals is an African elephant. Its scientific name is Loxodonta africana.

Elephants and Stuffy Noses (Trunks) 

Do elephants REALLY get stuffy trunks?  

Fact

Yes, they do.  According to Dr. Lydia Young, DVM, elephants can experience trunk inflammation, which results in narrowed nasal passages and that “stuffy nose” feeling. 

Causes

Elephants can get infections or develop seasonal allergies, which can cause inflammation and  “runny nose” symptoms.

Symptoms

Elephants make nasal discharge (snot) just like humans and that discharge can change in color, consistency, and amount when they are sick with a viral or bacterial infection.

Diagnosis

To diagnose problems, blood tests might be run to check for evidence of infection, inflammation, or allergy.  Samples of discharge from a trunk are examined under a microscope.  Other tests might be run on those samples to see what kinds of cells are present or to see if there is evidence of an infectious or allergic agent. A special camera called an endoscope is used to get a video recording of what the inside of the trunk looks like and to collect samples from way up inside the nares (nostrils) to help determine the source of a problem.

Treatments 

Many of the treatments used on elephants are the same ones used to treat humans. Inflammation can be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, bacterial infections with antibiotics, and allergies with antihistamines and even immunotherapy allergy shots.

Sometimes veterinarians need to flush out an elephant’s trunk and capture what kind of microbe might be causing an illness.   Here is a diagram of an instrument used for a “trunk flush.”  One part of this instrument is a syringe filled with sterile 50 ml saline (salt water), just like what Rosie used.

Fiction

Veterinarians don’t use nasal spray on stuffed trunks. However,  they use a saline solution (salt water) to flush out the trunk as explained above. 

Learn More

Learn more about elephants, the elephant sanctuary, and veterinarians who help elephants at:  The Elephant Sanctuary,

References

Dr. Lydia Young, DVM, Veterinarian, Ethics and Wellbeing Chair, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee

Hermes, R., Saragusty, J., Moser, I., Holtze, S., Nieter, J., Sachse, K., Voracek, T., Bernhard, A., Bouts, T., & Goritz, F. (2018). Bronchoalveolar lavage for the diagnosis of tuberculosis infection in elephants. Cambridge University Press. 

Image Credit: iStock.com/Aelice_