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An elephant has a long, wrinkly nose called a trunk. It’s strong and bendy. It has two nostrils at the end. It can be more than 80 inches long. If you had a nose that long, it would drag on the ground!
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Elephant Noses and Your Nose
By Molly Bradley
From the October/November 2026 Issue
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Students will compare and contrast information learned from two nonfiction texts.
Lexile® measure: 510L
Featured Skill: Compare and contrast
Standards
Elephant Nose
Long and Wrinkly Nose
A Nose That Does a Lot
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Elephants breathe and smell with their trunks. Their trunks can grab food and lift it to their mouths. Their trunks can also suck up water. Then the elephants spray their bodies. Bath time!
A Nose That Says Things
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Elephants use their trunks to communicate. They can squeak, snort, and make trumpet sounds. Elephants say hi to each other by wrapping their trunks together. It’s like a handshake!
Your Nose
Short and Smooth Nose
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Your nose is pretty small and smooth next to an elephant’s! It feels hard at the very top, but the rest is smushy. It has two nostrils. It’s only about 2 inches long.
A Nose That Does a Lot
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You use your nose to breathe and to smell. Your nose also helps you talk. It helps you make sounds like m and n. It also lets you hum. Did you know you can’t hum while holding your nose? Try it!
A Nose That Says Things
Antenna/fStop/Getty Images (Wiggling); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)
You can move your nose in a few ways. That can let other people know what you are feeling.
You can scrunch up your nose when you don’t like something. You can flare your nostrils to make them bigger when you are mad. You can wiggle your nose to be silly!
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