Elephant Herd Carry Deceased Calf by Trunk, Legs Before Burying Them, Study Finds

Elephants were found to have carried their deceased calf by trunk and their legs before burying them.

A study indicated that Asian elephants loudly mourn and bury their dead calves.

Calf Burial

Indian experts noted that rampant environmental changes and forest destruction push elephants, both Asian and African, to explore human spaces to fulfill their dietary and ecological requirements and, consequently in shared spaces many 'novel' elephant behaviors come into the limelight.

Elephant calf burial is reported in African literature but remains absent from the Asian context.

They reported the calf burials by Asian Elephants in the eastern Himalayan floodplains of the northern Bengal landscape. The study area consisted of fragmented forests, tea estates, agricultural lands, and military establishments.

Experts said that the tea estates form the majority of elephant corridors, and they explained the burial strategy of elephants in the irrigation drains of tea estates.

They presented five case reports of calf burials by elephants, which aimed to understand the perimortem strategy and postmortem behavior of the Asian Elephants.

''The major findings reflect that the carcasses were carried by trunks and legs for a distance before being buried in a 'legs-upright-position,''' the experts said. ''We further investigated the underlying reason for calf deaths through post mortem examinations.''

It was said that clear footprints of between 15 and 20 elephants were observed around the burial sites and over the soil covering the bodies of the calves.

According to the researchers, all of the calves had died of multiple organ failure aged between three months and a year. The elephants buried the calves in irrigation canals on tea estates, which are situated hundreds of meters away from the nearest human settlements.

No Human Intervention

Direct human intervention was not recorded in any of the five deaths, according to the study.

Through opportunistic observation, digital photography, fieldnotes, and postmortem examination reports, the scientists suggested that the carcasses were buried in an abnormal recumbent style irrespective of the reason for the calf's death.

On the other hand, through long-term observation, they further reported that the elephants in this region clearly avoid the paths where carcasses were buried.

The researchers also discussed and connected the literature of two distinct elephant species and also compared thanatological studies of other sentient nonhuman species.

Experts stressed that Asian elephants have already been recognized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mostly in India with some in Southeast Asia.

These mammals are known for surviving for an average of 60-70 years outside captivity.

Elephants have been known for their social and cooperative behavior but calf burial had previously only been "briefly studied.''

It was said that this topic has been in unexplored among their smaller Asian cousins.

Wild elephants in both Africa and Asia are also known to visit carcasses at different stages of decomposition, but this study found different behaviors from the herds it studied.