Indian scientists recorded in the images five cases of burial of cubs less than one year old.
Humans are not the only living beings who have rituals for dealing with death.
Some animals show particular behaviors even when one of them dies.
This is the case of Asian elephants and, thanks to a new study, these rituals have been photographed for the first time.
Research also shows that elephants carry the bodies of their dead calves for days until they find the appropriate burial site, while their trunks emit plaintive cries.
The revelation is part of a study conducted by two Indian scientists, published in the scientific journal Journal of Threatened Rate.
In the research, conducted between 2022 and 2023, Akashdeep Roy, of the Pune Institute of Science Education and Research, and Parveen Kaswan, of the Indian Forest Service, recorded five cases of baby elephant burials.
The cases were recorded in the Bengal region, in the north-east of the country – and, according to scientific data, there was no human intervention.
“Capp burials are extremely rare events in nature,” Roy told New Scientist magazine.
A collective issue
Footprints and dung tracks found by researchers in the five graves indicate that elephants of all ages contributed to each burial.
This, according to the study, is a testament to the “compassionate and helpful behavior” displayed by pack members.
All the bodies were found in the same position, buried in the drainage channels opened by the farmers and covered with earth with their paws pointing upwards.
“It’s the most accessible position to support and position the body in the ditches,” Roy told Live Science.
“This location also allows more than one member of the herd to participate in the burial process.”
After the burial, farmers interviewed claimed to have heard the roar of elephants.
Roy believes that these sounds were meant to “express agony and pain” – and also “pay homage to dead animals”.
But why do only puppies receive this treatment when they die?
Because it is “not feasible” to transport and then bury young or adult elephants, due to their size and weight, the research explains.
Previous studies have revealed that Asian elephants cry as families, Raman Sukumar, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Science, told National Geographic magazine.
Furthermore, they observed that these animals responded to pain with caresses and other displays of affection.
Away from humans
African elephants have previously been observed to perform funeral rituals, covering their calves with branches and leaves, but this study with Asian elephants is the first record of elephants placing bodies in a specific location and burying them with dirt, he reports WordsSideKick.com.
Asian elephants don’t bury their young everywhere.
These pachyderms choose “isolated places, far from humans and carnivorous animals, seeking ditches and depressions to bury the body,” the study says.
The five cases of buried bodies recorded in the research were found in tea-growing areas, far from populated areas.
Scientists exhumed the bodies to study them and found that the animals’ ages ranged from 3 months to a year. Many of them were malnourished or had infections.
Bruises found on each cub’s back suggest they were dragged by adults long distances to their burial sites.
“There are unpublished reports from the West Bengal Forest Department of an elephant carrying a body for up to two days before abandoning it at an isolated place in south Bengal,” the study said.
“These sensitive beings do not abandon the corpse until the putrefaction process begins or until the Forestry Corps employees take charge of the body”, he adds.
Unlike African elephants, Asian elephants do not return to their burial site but choose other alternative routes for their movement.
The first interpretations of the discoveries
For biologist and conservationist Chase LaDue, the study is important because it offers “surprising evidence of the social complexities of elephants.”
“Other (studies) have noted that elephants appear to behave uniquely toward their deceased relatives, (but) this research is the first to describe what appears to be a methodical and deliberate burial of baby elephants after they have been brought at the burial site,” added LaDue, who works at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in the US, in an interview with New Scientist magazine.
The expert also urged caution when interpreting these results.
“The mental and emotional lives of elephants are still largely a mystery,” he said.
The biologist explains that studies of this type could allow the development of new strategies to ensure the survival of these animals.
Asian elephants, which live on average between 60 and 70 years in the wild, are on the list of endangered species drawn up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one of the world’s leading environmental NGOs.
It is estimated that there are currently around 26 thousand specimens living in the wild, mainly in India and some other South-East Asian countries.
Source: Terra
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