ELEPHANTS MOURN THEIR DEAD

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 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8209

 

Elephants may pay homage to dead relatives

00:01 26 October 2005

NewScientist.com news service

Shaoni Bhattacharya

 

 

Elephants may pay homage to the bones of dead relatives in their home ranges, a

study of the creatures’ responses to skulls and ivory suggests.

 

Humans apart, only a few animals show any interest in their own dead.

Chimpanzees show prolonged and complex behaviours towards a dead social partner

– but abandon them once the carcass starts decomposing. But lions, for example,

might sniff or lick a dead member of its own species before proceeding to devour

the body.

 

African elephants have been observed to become highly agitated when they come

across the bodies of their own, and they have been seen to pay great attention

to the skull and ivory of long-dead elephants. However, this interest had not

been tested experimentally.

 

Now research from a team in the UK and Kenya has demonstrated that African

elephants pay a higher level of interest to elephant skulls compared with those

of other animals and ivory compared to wood.

 

However, the team could not corroborate stories that elephants specifically

visit the bones of dead relatives. The elephant families in their study were

unable to pick out the skull of their dead matriarch from other families’ dead

matriarchs.

 

“But their interest in the ivory and skulls of their own species means that they

would be highly likely to visit the bones of relatives who die within their home

range,” writes the team, lead by Karen McComb at the University of Sussex, UK.

 

Large brains, long lived

“It begs the question why do they do this? This interest in remains of animals,

long-dead, hasn’t really been observed in any other species apart from humans,”

McComb told New Scientist.

 

She also notes that recorded interest in the dead has been seen in elephants and

chimps - “two very social species, with quite complex structures, large brains

and who are long-lived”. She speculates: “It may be connected with particular

cognitive abilities or aspects of social behaviour. "

 

“Elephants are highly intelligent and highly tactile animals,” says David Field,

head of animal care for London and Whipsnade Zoos in the UK. “The fact they are

able to distinguish between their own skulls and those of other species is not

surprising.”

 

“Elephants themselves are a matriarchal society filled with aunties and family

members who have close bonds within a group, " he adds. A death in the family

might be a significant social event. “It could have an impact on social bonding

and structure within the group,” he told New Scientist.

 

Smelling and touching

McComb and colleagues studied African elephants (Loxodonta africana) living in

Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Families of elephants were presented with objects

by placing them about 25 metres away from the nearest elephant and then driving

away and observing the reaction of animals.

 

In one experiment, 17 families were presented with skulls from an elephant, a

buffalo and a rhinoceros. The elephants showed considerable interest in the

skull of their own species. They did this by smelling and touching individual

objects with their trunks and occasionally touching them lightly with their

feet.

 

In another experiment, 19 families were presented with an elephant skull, a

piece of ivory and a piece of wood. The creatures showed a strong preference for

the ivory over the other two objects, and for the skull over the wood.

 

The third experiment tested three elephant families who had recently lost the

head of their family. Each was presented with three skulls of matriarchs

including their own – but they did not show a preference for their relative’s

skull.

 

The notion of elephant graveyards – where old elephants wander off to die – has

been exposed as myth by previous studies, the researchers note. Nonetheless,

they believe their experiments “cast light” on why elephants are often seen

interacting with the skulls and ivory of dead companions.

 

But there is no way to tell whether the elephants are mourning their dead –

although they get very excited when approaching carcasses, with secretions

streaming from their temples.

 

Journal reference: Biology Letters (DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0400)