African elephants have the first-class sensitive aces

African elephants are known as intelligent animals, best able to distinguish different languages.

Japanese scientists recently discovered a "special talent" of this rare animal, which is the most sensitive sense of smell.

In the study published in the American journal Genome Research on July 22, scientists from Tokyo University, Japan, conducted a comparison of the amount of olfactory genes in the genome of elephants. Africa with humans and 12 other mammal species such as horses, cows, rabbits, dogs, chimpanzees as well as some rodents like guinea-pigs, mice .

African elephants in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa.(Source: AFP / VNA)

Results showed that the African elephant genome has the most olfactory genes, with nearly 2,000 genes out of a total of 10,000 olfactory genes detected.

Thus, the number of genes with the function of distinguishing the smell of elephants is nearly twice as high as that of mice - the animal has long been thought to have the best olfactory function.

In addition, the African olfactory gene is five times more abundant than humans and twice as much as those of canoes.

According to scientists, it is still unclear how the olfactory genes in elephants work, but this function has helped elephants find food and partners and protect their survival at the lips. harsh life in Africa.

African elephants have the scientific name Loxodonta, which is the largest animal on Earth today.

African elephants are listed in the Red Book of rare and endangered animals because they are losing their habitat and the illegal hunting of ivory is widespread.

The study was co-sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the Japan Association for Promoting Aid Programs for Japanese Scientific Research.