It is said time and again that elephants mourn the death of their deceased fellows. But is that also true? Researchers have now investigated how wild elephants behave in the presence of their dead and what could be behind this behavior. Her study confirms that the pachyderms deal with dead conspecifics in a special way and sometimes even seem to react emotionally.
For a long time, we humans were considered the only living being that had an idea of death and said goodbye to the deceased in rituals. However, there is now increasing evidence that some animals also react in a special way to the death of conspecifics. Gorillas, for example, often stay close to deceased species, touch them and “groom” their fur. Chimpanzees were observed covering leaves and branches of the lifeless bodies of group members.
Examine, sniff and touch again and again
Elephants have also been reported many times to say goodbye to their dead and to visit their remains again and again. However, it has not yet been clarified whether these are just misinterpreted observations or whether elephants actually have a special relationship with deceased species. That is why Shifra Goldenberg from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and George Wittemyer from Colorado State University and the organization Save the Elephants have now investigated this behavior again. For their study, they evaluated 32 previous reports of wild elephants in carcasses from various locations in Africa. On the other hand, they themselves made observations in the Samburu Nationark in Kenya.
The evaluation of the observations showed: Despite some differences, there are certainly some similarities in the behavior of the elephants in cadaver fellow species. “One of the most frequently observed behaviors of the elephants was touching the dead, a repeated approach to the carcasses and an in-depth investigation of the remains,” reports Goldenberg. “The elephants show this interest in the dead regardless of how close their relationship with their peers was during their lifetime.” Some elephants also tried to pick up new deceased peers or to draw them closer. In addition, the animals often seemed to use their well-developed sense of smell to smell the remains – possibly to determine the dead person’s identity.
Is that grief
But what’s going on in the elephants? Do you feel something like grief? “The motivations behind these behaviors are difficult to grasp and seem to vary depending on the circumstances and the animal,” says Goldenberg. However, there are certainly indications that the confrontation with the deceased peers triggers increased emotions in the animals. For example, the researchers observed increased activity of the sleep glands in a young female elephant when the animal was at her mother’s carcass. At the same time, the intensive sniffing and palpation of dead conspecifics could also be an expression of the close and complex social relationships between the elephants.
The pachyderms are known to have close ties to their peers that will persist for decades. The social structure of their groups is complex and characterized by different, close and less close relationships, as the researchers explain. In addition, the composition of these groups changes over time. Nevertheless, observations show that elephants recognize themselves even after a long separation. Their good memory helps them do this. At such reunions, it is striking that the elephants sniff intensively for a long time and repeatedly touch their trunks – as if they wanted to reconcile the characteristics and well-being of this conspecific with their memories.
According to Goldenberg and Wittemyer, a similar process could also take place with dead conspecifics. “This behavior could allow them to update their social context information in this highly mutable community,” the researchers say. Accordingly, the elephants may also use the close contact with their dead to remember them as deceased. “Seeing elephants interact with their dead really gives you goose bumps,” says Wittemyer. “It is one of the many fascinating aspects of the elephant that we observe but cannot fully understand.”
Source: San Diego Zoo Global; Technical article: Primates, doi: 10.1007 / s10329-019-00766-5