Why do elephants have trunks?

Answer: A flexible nose and upper lip for feeding, drinking, and communicating

A water tank that stores water inside the trunk for later use — Wrong. The trunk does not store water (a common myth). It draws water up and then squirts it into the mouth to drink. The trunk is a tool for feeding, drinking, sensing, and communication, not a storage container.

A cooling system only, used to spray water and dust on the body — Wrong. The trunk does help cool the body by spraying water or dust, but that is just one of its many jobs. Its main roles are feeding, drinking, breathing, and communication, so calling it a cooling system only misses most of what it does.

A flexible nose and upper lip for feeding, drinking, and communicating ✓ — Correct! The trunk is a fusion of the nose and upper lip with about 40,000 muscles and no bones. It lets elephants grasp food, suck water and squirt it into the mouth, breathe, smell, touch, trumpet, spray water or dust for cooling, and even lift heavy objects. African elephants have two finger-like tips, Asian elephants have one.