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A mother’s heartbreaking farewell: grieving elephant carries her calf’s lifeless body before laying it to rest, watched by their herd during ‘funeral ceremony’
- Grief-stricken mother elephant carried her calf to an acacia tree in Namibia
- Other members of the herd solemnly walked to the elephant’s resting place
- The intelligent animals are known to observe funeral rituals
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A grieving mother elephant has carried the lifeless body of her dead calf during a heartbreaking funeral ceremony in Namibia.
Gloomy images show the grieving elephant carrying her calf to an acacia tree in the Torra Reserve in Damaraland.
Other members of the herd gather and walk together in silence as part of a respectful procession for the deceased elephant.
A grieving mother elephant carries the lifeless body of her dead calf with her trunk during a heartbreaking funeral ceremony in Namibia
Gloomy footage shows grieving elephant carrying her calf to an acacia tree in Damaraland’s Torra Reserve
The calf was less than a week old when it died after the water dried up in the area.
While other younger elephants continue to play in the sanctuary, many of the older members all turn and walk to the tree where the calf is laid to rest.
Safari guides told Corriere della Sera they had never seen elephants perform a funeral ceremony.
The two rivers serving the Torra Reserve have both dried up in recent weeks and the wells are also out of order.
Other members of the herd gather and walk together in silence as part of a respectful procession for the deceased elephant
The calf was less than a week old when it died after the water dried up in the area
After the ceremony, the elephants continued as a group, hoping to find water.
Elephants are known to observe funeral rites, often laying branches over a corpse shortly after death.
They have also been seen raising their feet above a corpse as a symbol of remembrance, or scattering their remains.