The African elephant is known for its thick, wrinkly skin. But look closer and you’ll see an intricate network of tiny crevices that makes the mighty mammal’s hide resemble cracked mud or damaged asphalt.

The purpose of those cracks is no mystery. An elephant doesn’t have sweat or sebum glands, so it covers its skin in water or mud to keep cool. The micrometer-wide cracks in its skin retain 10 times more moisture than a flat surface, helping the animal regulate its body temperature. They also help mud adhere to the skin, which protects against parasites and rays from the sun.

Now, a team of researchers believe they have discovered that these cracks form as a result of the stress of skin bending, not shrinking. Their explanation, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, might even hold clues to treating a common human genetic skin disorder.

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Michel Milinkovitch, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, knows a bit about crackly animal skin. In 2013, he was part of a team that discovered that the scales on a crocodile’s face and jaw are actually skin that has folded and healed. When he set out to investigate the cracks in elephant skin, he expected to see a similar process at work.