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How do elephants use trunks when greeting one another?
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elephant
African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana).
When elephants meet, they use their trunks in ways that serve as important social signals. One elephant may touch the face of another, or they may intertwine their trunks. This behavior, often referred to as a "trunk-shake," is comparable to a human handshake; it functions as a gesture of greeting or assurance and can also serve as a method for assessing the strength of another elephant.1