Elephants seen mourning dead loved ones long after they’ve gone

Story by Colm Gorey | www.siliconrepublic.com

Researchers studying how elephants mourn the dead have shown the creatures often care for those they might not have even been close with.

While stories of interactions between elephants and their dead have been around for some time, a new study has revealed much more detailed – and surprising – realizations about how they mourn.

In a paper published to Primates, research led by San Diego Zoo has shown that elephants show a generalized interest in their dead, even after the bodies have long decayed and regardless of whether they were close with the individual.

The most commonly observed behavior seen was elephants approaching the dead and touching and examining the carcass. They also seemed to use their advanced sense of smell to identify which of its kind had died, with some seen attempting to loudly lift or pull fallen elephants who had just died.

The study included 32 observations of wild elephant carcasses from 12 different locations in Africa.

Elephants are known to form long relationships with each other across social groups that can divide or merge over time. This requires an elephant to remember a wide range of individuals over its life, bolstered by the creature’s notable cognitive abilities, extensive memory and highly sophisticated sense of smell.