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Why do elephants have big ear flaps?

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Abstract

In this essay we shall try to answer the question in the title with some geometry and heat transfer thrown in for effect. For doing so, as the joke goes, allow me to assume the elephant as a sphere. The reason will be apparent soon.

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Suggested Reading

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Correspondence to Arunn Narasimhan.

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Arunn Narasimhan is a faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His research interests include transport in porous media, phase change materials and heat transfer in biological systems.

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Narasimhan, A. Why do elephants have big ear flaps?. Reson 13, 638–647 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-008-0070-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-008-0070-5

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