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Details of observations

Researchers discovered five elephant calf graves belonging to giant mammals in the Bengal region of northern India in 2022 and 2023. In each case, the scientists found that the herd carried the dead cub by its torso and legs, and then They buried him in the ground with his feet up. At the same time, the legs remained above the surface.

Based on casual observations, digital photographs, field notes, and necropsy reports, we suggest that regardless of the calf’s cause of death, the carcasses were buried in an abnormal recumbent position.
– says the study.

In one case, the authors write, the herd “roared and trumpeted” loudly around the corpse.

Herd members carried dead baby elephants to bury them near tea plantations / Photo West Bengal Forest Department

The study showed that: Only small young individuals are allowed for funerals Due to the impossibility of carrying heavy adult elephants by other members of the herd.

Authors Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy said their study did not find “direct human intervention” in any of the five deaths. Clear traces of 15 to 20 elephants were found in the soil covering their bodies and around the burial areas of the animals, which died from multiple organ failure within three months to a year.

Elephants buried calves in irrigation canals on the territory of tea plantations, hundreds of meters from the nearest human settlements.

Buried baby elephant / Photo: West Bengal Forest Department

Buried baby elephant / Photo: West Bengal Forest Department

Buried baby elephant / Photo: West Bengal Forest Department

Elephants are known for their social and cooperative behavior, but calf burial had previously only been “briefly investigated” in African elephants and not among their smaller Asian relatives.

Wild elephants in both Africa and Asia are known to visit carcasses in various stages of decomposition, but this study found that the elephants’ behavior differed from the herds studied.

In all five cases, the herd “He escaped from the cemetery 40 minutes after he was buried.” and subsequently avoided returning to the region, choosing instead various parallel migration routes.