They are sad pictures from India: An elephant carries the body of a dead calf across a road – other animals follow from the thicket. It has often been reported that the animals carry their dead young conspecifics – but so far there has been no scientific study of their behavior. Three researchers from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru have now examined 24 YouTube videos in which elephants can be seen with their dead fellows. Some of the observed Asian elephants carried the dead cubs through the forest for days or even weeks. The scientists derived this from the condition of the calf’s corpse. They were females, leading researchers to believe they were the mothers of the dead babies. Other behaviors that many videos had in common: The animals repeatedly come into contact with the dead calf, touching it, making noises and smelling the body. A kind of procession reminiscent of a wake can also be seen in a film. For the researchers, the collected observations are indications that elephants are aware of death. Large mammals are not the only animals that have been observed carrying dead young. Monkeys and whales such as orcas and dolphins also interact with their young after death. The marine mammals, for example, carry their dead babies through the water for several weeks and bring them to the surface again and again – as if to get them to breathe.
Quelle: Royal Society
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