Post #14505

How do elephants understand death? This is human level or higher. Rituals and philosophy Elephants are the only animals that perform rituals on the dead. And not only over our own. When an elephant dies from the herd, its relatives do not leave. They stay close - sometimes for several days. They feel the body with their trunk, turn it over with their tusks, and stand silently in a dense group. Elephants are trying to raise cubs that can no longer be saved. Matriarchs - the oldest females of the herd - stand over the body for a long time, without moving. But here's what's really strange: they return to the bones months and years later. Passing by the place of death of a relative, the herd slows down. Stops. Each person takes turns coming up and touching the bones with their trunk - especially the skull and tusks. Scientists observed an elephant holding the jaw of its dead mother in its trunk for several minutes. Whether he recognized her is unknown. But clearly something was happening inside. In Africa, elephants have been repeatedly recorded covering the bodies of dead relatives with branches and leaves - creating a semblance of a primitive burial. And in northern Bengal, scientists have documented five cases of Asian elephants literally burying dead calves in the ground - methodically and consistently, as a whole herd. Around each burial, tracks of 15 to 20 elephants were found. After this, the herd left the place for 40 minutes and then avoided returning - they chose other migration routes rather than pass by. Further - more interesting. Elephants do the same thing with the bones of strange elephants they have never known. In one experiment, they were given the bones of an elephant, a rhinoceros and a buffalo - the elephants chose the elephant ones every time and spent more time on them. This is not a “smell one’s own species” instinct. The bones are old, there is almost no smell. This is something different. Once, in the daughter of a deceased elephant, observers recorded abundant secretions of the temporal glands - they are located between the eyes and ears and begin to actively work under emotional stress. That is, physiology also reacts. The elephant's body literally goes into grief mode. Elephants seem to have an abstract concept of death as a category. Not “my cub died” - but simply “death.” Regardless of personal connection. No other animal on the planet has this, except humans, and not all cultures have developed this into a ritual. Zoologists are still debating what to call it. Because the word “sorrow” is about people. And they haven’t come up with another word yet. 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot