![\"New](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/05140111\/SEI_194604388.jpg?width=1200\")
<\/div>An elephant pulling a dead calf on a tea estate in north Bengal, India<\/p>\n
Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Asian elephants have been documented deliberately burying the bodies of their calves in the first scientific report of such behaviour in this species.<\/p>\n
Five buried calves were discovered in drainage ditches on tea-growing estates in north Bengal, India, all with their feet and legs protruding from the ground.<\/p>\n
Footprints and dung of various sizes indicate that herd members of all ages contributed to each burial. Night guards at the estates reported loud elephant vocalisations, sometimes lasting as long as 30 to 40 minutes, before the herd left the area.<\/p>\n
Akashdeep Roy<\/a> at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune and Parveen Kaswan at the Indian Forest Service suggest that these trumpeting sounds may signify mourning and that the herds showed \u201chelping and compassionate behaviour\u201d during the burials.<\/p>\n \u201cCalf burials are extremely rare events in nature,\u201d says Roy.<\/p>\n They were surprised that the calves were buried feet up, but if the herd collectively buried each calf, this is the most accessible position to place the carcass into the drainage ditch, says Roy. As social animals, it may be most important to the elephants to bury the calf\u2019s head, he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An elephant calf buried on a tea estate, with its feet protruding from the ground<\/p>\n Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n The calves\u2019 bodies were later exhumed and examined. They ranged in age from 3 months to a year old, and a number of them were malnourished and had infections. Bruising along each calf\u2019s back suggests they were dragged or carried long distances to the burial sites.<\/p>\n African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana<\/i>) have been observed covering dead bodies with vegetation and returning to these locations later.<\/a> However, the Asian elephants (Elephas maximus<\/i>) in this study generally avoided returning to the burial sites, instead using alternative pathways.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/05140115\/SEI_194602196.jpg?width=1200\")
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