Off The Record
Weeping Elephants Mourn A Lost Baby In A Funeral March Like Humans
A forest ranger in the Indian Foreign Service, Praveen Kaswan, posted a heartbreaking video of Indian elephants performing “animal” funeral service for a baby elephant they lost .
The video has gone extremely viral, exposing the emotions elephants show that are similar to humans. People got moved and touched by the stunning footage.
The footage shows an elephant emerging from the forrest holding a body of a dead elephant in its trunk.
The adult elephant put down the body of the baby elephant while waiting for the other elephants to join the funeral march. While the elephant was waiting for others to join, it guarded the poor baby elephant.
When others joined, the elephant picked up the body once more and marched foward.
The Twitter post got more than 6,500 re-tweets and over 14,000 likes.
When a baby elephant dies, it’s mother has been known to lift it with her trunk. She then places it in an area where the calf is covered with ground debris like twigs, sticks, and dirt. The other female members of the herd assist in this ritual. Upon completion, rest of the herd will join the mother paying homage. This is one of many beautiful rituals of the death in the animal kingdom.
Research has documented that mother elephants both in the wild and in sanctuaries, have been known to stand watch and grieve for days.
We found this display quite touching.
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
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