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As a breeze blows through the savannah, a snake-shaped tube stretches into the air and scans the horizon like a periscope.
当微风吹过稀树大草原，一根蛇形的管子伸向空中，如潜望镜般扫描着地平线。
But it's not seeing -- it's sniffing for odors like the scent of a watering hole or the musk of a dangerous predator.
但它并不是在看--而是在嗅诸如水坑或是危险捕食者携带的麝香的气味。
The trunk's owner is a young African elephant. At only 8 years old, she still has a lot to learn about her home. Fortunately, she's not alone.
这象鼻的主人是一头年轻的非洲象。年仅八岁的她,关于她的家，还有很多要学。幸运的是，学习路上并不只有她一头象。
Elephants are extremely social creatures, with females living in tight-knit herds led by a single matriarch.
大象是社会性极强的动物，雌象生活在由一个女首领领导的关系紧密的象群中。
And every member of the group has one of the most versatile tools in the savannah to help them get by.
这个象群的每个成员都有一个在大草原生存的通用的工具来帮助她们度过难关。
Today her herd is looking for water. Or, more accurately, smelling for water.
今天雌象首领的象群正在寻找水源。或者，更准确地说，用嗅觉寻找水源。
Elephants have more genes devoted to smell than any other creature, making them the best sniffers in the animal kingdom.
大象拥有比其它任何生物都要多嗅觉基因，这让它们成为动物王国中最好的嗅探者。
Even at our elephant's young age, her trunk is already 1.5 meters long and contains five times as many olfactory receptors as a human nose,
即使是年幼的大象，她的鼻子就已有1.5米长，并且其嗅觉感受器的数量是人类鼻子的五倍，
allowing her to smell standing water several kilometers away.
这让她能够嗅到几公里外的水源。
And now, the matriarch uses her own keen sense of smell to plot the herd's course.
现在，雌象首领用她自己敏锐的嗅觉来绘制象群的路线。
Their journey is long, so our elephant keeps her energy up by snacking on the occasional patch of thick grass.
她们要走的路途很长，所以大象们在偶尔途径茂密草地时会吃草来保持充沛的精力。
But this light lunch isn't just about staying fed -- she's also looking for clues.
不过，这顿清淡的午餐不仅仅是为了吃饱--她还以此寻找线索。
Like many other mammals, vents in the roof of an elephant's mouth lead directly to the vomeronasal organ.
与许多其它的哺乳动物一样，大象口腔上颚的开口会直接通向犁鼻器。
This structure can detect chemical signals left by other elephants.
这一结构使其能探测到其它大象留下的化学信号。
So as the herd forages, they're also gathering information about what other herds have come this way.
所以在象群觅食的同时，她们也在收集其它路过此处象群的信息。
All the while, the group's adults are on the lookout for signs of other animals, including potential threats.
与此同时，象群的成年象会观察其它动物的迹象，包括潜在的威胁。
Fortunately, while lions might attack a young or sickly elephant, few are foolish enough to take on a healthy adult.
幸运的是，虽然狮子可能会攻击一头年幼或病弱的大象，但很少有狮子会愚蠢到攻击一头健康的成年大象。
Weighing 3 tons and bearing powerful tusks nearly a meter long, our elephant's mother is a force to be reckoned with.
重达3吨，长着将近1米长且有力的象牙，大象妈妈是一股不容小觑的力量。
Her dexterous trunk doubles as a powerful, flexible arm.
她灵巧敏捷的象鼻可兼作强壮而灵活的手臂。
Containing no bones and an estimated 40,000 muscles, these agile appendages can bend, twist, contract, and expand.
象鼻虽不含骨骼却有大约4万块肌肉，这些敏捷的附器可以弯曲、扭转、收缩和扩张。
At 8 years old, our elephant's trunk is already strong enough to move small fallen trees,
在8岁时，大象的象鼻就已强壮到可以搬运倒下的小树。
while finger-like extensions allow for delicate maneuvers like wiping her eye.
而象鼻末端的指状突可做精细动作，如擦拭她的眼睛。
She can even grab a nearby branch, break it to just the right length, and wave off pesky insects.
她甚至可以抓住身边的一根树枝，把它折断至合适的长度，然后用它挥赶讨厌的昆虫。
Suddenly, the matriarch stops their march and sniffs the air.
突然，雌象首领停下脚步，嗅了嗅空气。
Using smell alone, elephants can recognize each member of their herd, and their exceptional memories can retain the smells of elephants outside their herd as well.
仅凭嗅觉，大象就可以辨认出自己象群中的每一个成员，而且它们非凡的记忆力可以让它们记住不属于这个象群的其它大象的气味。
It's one of these old but familiar odors that's caught the matriarch's attention.
正是这种似曾相识的气味引起了雌象首领的注意。
She bellows into the air, sending out a sound wave that rings across the savannah. But it travels even further through the earth as infrasonic rumbles.
她向空中咆哮，发出响彻整个大草原的声浪。但她发出的次声波隆隆声可以在陆地上传得更远。
Elephants up to 10 kilometers away can receive these rumbles with their feet. If the matriarch's nose is right, her herd should expect a response.
10公里外的大象可以用脚接收到隆隆声。如果首领鼻子的判断正确，她的象群应该期待获得回应。
Smelling the secretions from her daughter's temporal glands, our elephant's mother can sense her daughter's unease about this unfamiliar encounter.
大象母亲闻着她女儿颞腺的分泌物，能感觉到她女儿对这一陌生遭遇的不安。
As the herd of unknown elephants approaches, trunks from both herds rise into the air, sounding trumpets of alarm.
当一群陌生的大象接近时，两群大象的象鼻都升到了空中，发出警报的号角。
But upon recognition, apprehension quickly gives way to happy rumbles.
但经过辨认，先前的忐忑很快被快乐的隆隆声所取代。
Members from each herd recognize each other despite time apart,
两个象群的成员虽然长久未见，但还是能认出对方，
and many investigate each other's mouths with their trunks to smell what their counterparts have been eating.
许多象用鼻子互相探查对方的嘴巴，嗅嗅对方吃了什么。
With the reunion now in full swing, both herds head toward their final destination: the long-awaited watering hole.
团圆如火如荼进行的同时，两个象群朝着最终目的地前进：那期待已久的水坑。
Here, older elephants suck up to 8 liters of water into their trunks before spraying the contents on themselves to cool off.
水坑边，年长的大象将多达8升水吸入象鼻，随后把水喷洒在自己身上用来降温。
Meanwhile, our young elephant plays in the mud with her peers, digging into the muck and even using her trunk as a snorkel to breathe while submerged.
与此同时，小象和同伴们一起在泥泞中玩耍，挖泥巴，甚至用鼻子作为通气管以便在潜入泥巴时呼吸。
The pair of matriarchs look contentedly on their herds, before turning their trunks to the horizon once more.
两个雌象首领心满意足地看着她们的象群，然后再一次，将她们的象鼻转向地平线。
