Asian elephants bury and mourn their dead babies, study says

In several cases studied in India, the herd carried the dead baby elephant by its trunk and legs before burying it on its back. And in one case, elephants trumpeted loudly around the remains.

Asian elephants bury their young after death and mourn them loudly, according to a study by Indian scientists detailing the behavior of the pachyderms reminiscent of human funeral rites. Researchers identified five sites where a baby elephant had been buried each time by elephants, in northern Bengal in India in 2022 and 2023, according to the study published on February 26 in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.

The five baby elephants, aged between three months and 1 year, all died of organ failure. The researchers found, in each case, that the herd had carried the dead baby elephant by its trunk and legs before burying it on its back. “Through timely observations, digital photographs, field notes and autopsy reports, we suggest that the remains were buried in the eerie manner of a recumbent figure, whatever the reason for the child’s death.”says the study.

“No direct human intervention”

In one case, the herd trumpeted loudly around the baby elephant lying underground, the study authors wrote. The study explains that only the young are buried thus, the transport of adults is “impossible” by the herd due to their size and weight. Authors Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy said their research did not reveal “no direct human intervention” in the burial of each of the five baby elephants.

Clear footprints of 15 to 20 elephants were observed around the burial sites and on the earth under which the remains were buried. The elephants buried the calves in the irrigation canals of tea plantations, a few hundred meters from human settlements. Elephants are known for their social and cooperative behavior, but the burial of calves had only been “briefly studied” among African elephants. The phenomenon was still unexplored among their Asian cousins, according to the study.

Asian elephants are on the list of endangered species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mainly in India, but there are also a few in Southeast Asia. Outside of captivity, they live on average 60 to 70 years.