Functional Anisotropy of the Elephant Trunk Skin: A Biological Blueprint for Grasping, Protection, and Tactile Sensing

The trunks of one adult and one juvenile Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) that passed away at the Zurich Zoo in 2020 were obtained by the University of Geneva for anatomical studies. Following its death, the adult trunk sample underwent a series of preparatory steps.

The mechanical behavior of skin samples selected across the trunk is systematically investigated through tensile and indentation experiments. Based on the gathered data, finite-element analysis was used to study how the geometry and mechanical properties of the salient morphological characteristics of the skin influence aspects such as stretchability, induced strains, and stresses. The insights garnered from this study hold considerable promise for applications in soft continuum robotics, specifically in the design of bioinspired, robust, deformable, and sensitive artificial skins.