Why do elephants bury dead baby elephants with their hooves in the air?

Today, no one doubts the high intelligence of elephants, and one of the most special things about this animal is its funeral culture , they will organize funerals, mourn, visit regularly and Use leaves and branches to cover the bodies of dead relatives.

In a study published February 26 in the Journal of Threatened Taxa , Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan and Indian Institute of Science and Education researcher Akashdeep Roy spent 16 months recording five burials of Asian elephant calves in West Bengal, the northern Himalayas and the eastern floodplains.

These Asian elephants, live in landscapes of fragmented forests, tea plantations, agricultural lands and human settlements. They buried the carcasses of baby elephants in the ground, which in itself was unusual, but the method of burying them created an even greater surprise.

Researchers believe there could be many reasons why elephants do this. First, this process allows all members of the elephant herd to participate; Second , due to the limited depth of irrigation ditches, in cases where space is limited, members of the elephant herd prioritize burying more important parts such as the head, which can show respect for the elephants. member of an elephant herd to a deceased member; Finally , the baby elephant's exposed legs may have played a role in determining the location of the grave.

Previously, researchers have observed African forest elephants covering dead herd members with leaves and twigs.

Five Asian elephant calves were discovered buried on tea plantations in northern West Bengal between September 2022 and October 2023. The calves appeared to have been placed on their backs in the Irrigation trench is up to 65cm deep, then covered with soil. Even though their heads and bodies were almost buried, their four legs were still sticking out of the ground.

These baby elephants ranged in age from 3 months to 1 year old, and they died of natural causes, such as infection and malnutrition. Bruises on their backs showed that members of the herd had dragged their bodies over long distances to the tea growing area for burial. In some cases, the elephants traveled for 48 hours while carrying the carcasses of their calves, according to Live Science .

Researchers claim elephants specifically place the bodies of baby elephants in the ditch with their feet facing up so that more members of the herd can participate in the burial process. The presence of footprints and feces of many elephants at this location further strengthens the accuracy of this statement. The team also suspects Asian elephants deliberately cover the heads and bodies of dead baby elephants to protect them from scavengers.

Akashdeep Roy believes that this burial behavior highlights the extreme intelligence of elephants. The elephants deliberately chose tea gardens because they naturally could not bury their bodies in villages where humans would disturb them, nor could they bury them in the forest because they knew they could not dig large holes there.

Tea plantation workers and nearby villagers reported hearing elephants calling loudly - for about 30 or 40 minutes - before leaving the burial area, which researchers believe is when the herd elephants are holding a funeral. That explanation is consistent with the results of a 2022 study, which found that Asian elephants stand guard over the bodies of dead herd members, making noises and appearing comforting each other in 'calm-down-like reactions'.

After that, Asian elephants also appeared to try to avoid going near the graves. Researchers suspect the elephants cleverly chose tea plantations as burial sites because of previously dug trenches.

'Elephants will not be able to bury carcasses in the villages because there is a lot of human disturbance,' Roy told Live Science . They also can't do it in a forest without a dug trench.'

Elephants can recognize their own reflection in the mirror, meaning they have the ability to be self-aware.

Elephants are one of the very few animals that can recognize their own reflection in a mirror, meaning they have the ability to be self-aware. And elephants also have an excellent ability to remember faces, they almost never forget each other, even after decades they can still recognize their friends. An example can be the story that happened at the Tennessee State Zoo. When people brought a new elephant here, an elephant living there was extremely excited and attached to his 'new friend'. , very different from the tentative attitude of the other elephants in the zoo.

Scientists could not explain this phenomenon until they searched hundreds of pages of documents about this elephant. It turns out that 22 years ago, these two elephants lived and played together in a circus.

Like humans, elephants also suffer extremely heavy psychological trauma when witnessing the death of their friends. In April this year, at Elephant Nature Park in Thailand, a story of 'an elephant crying for a friend' also occurred , making everyone present feel sympathetic. Two elephants named Jok and Mae Perm have lived side by side and been close to each other for 17 years.

It is known that Jok is an elephant rescued by this center from an illegal logging group. When he was brought here, Jok's eyes were blind. From then on, Mae Perm became Jok's eyes. The two are always together, playing together, eating and sleeping together. However, in early April, due to old age, Mae Perm passed away first, leaving the blind elephant alone to live alone.

On the day of the burial ceremony for Mae Perm (this elephant was buried right next to Jok's cage by the center), the blind elephant continuously expressed sadness, roared, and cried for her close friend. me for 6 hours.