Elephants are the gentle giants that scientists and environmentalists have long been fascinated by. After years of intensive study and close observation, we now know that elephants have a profound emotional range and a grieving process that is remarkably comparable to our own.
George Wittemyer, a committed conservation biologist from Colorado State University, has spent a large amount of his professional life researching elephants. He once gave National Geographic a glimpse into his observations, illuminating the complex and mysterious mechanisms by which these majestic creatures deal with the death of a fellow herd member.
“Elephants have respect for their dead,” Wittemyer stated, “but their interaction with their d_ead is not something we fully understand.” Researchers have been intrigued by this mysterious part of their behaviour, which shows that when these animals experience the loss of one of their own, they react from deep-seated emotions.
Twitter user Parveen Kaswan recently released a video that revealed this fascinating discovery, underscoring the depth of elephants’ emotional intelligence and their distinct grieving process.
In the video, which was shared by Twitter user Parveen Kaswan, an empty road is completely blocked by people and vehicles preventing any vehicles from driving down the road. The people are not blocking the road as a protest or as a way to disrupt traffic. Instead, they decided to block the road to help a mourning herd of elephants.
One elephant walks towards the road. It is carrying something in its trunk. Kaswan tweeted that the elephant is “carrying d_ead body of the child elephant.”
The elephant carrying the child elephant walks across the road and sets the child elephant down at the opposite edge of the road. Then, more elephants come into view approaching the road and slowly crossing it, pausing in a group around the young, d_ead elephant. This group includes adult elephants as well as young children elephants. Kawan explained, “The family just don’t want to leave the baby” and described the mourning elephants as in a “funeral procession.”
Eventually, the elephants continue on their journey. One by one, they slowly walk away from the road, but they do not leave the dead child elephant behind. One of the larger elephants picks it up with its trunk and continues to carry it.
As a moving reminder of the extraordinarily emotional lives that elephants lead, the film is evidence of the strong bonds that exist among animals. It’s a tale that connects our worlds and serves as a moving reminder of the intricacy and beauty of nature.
Watch this touching video for yourself below.
This will move you !! Funeral procession of the weeping elephants carrying dead body of the child elephant. The family just don’t want to leave the baby. pic.twitter.com/KO4s4wCpl0
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) June 7, 2019
