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A group of researchers in India for the first time ever has documented how Asian elephants bury dead calves. Five calves were found buried on their backs in drainage ditches in tea gardens in northern Bengal, according to a study conducted by the researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).
According to a report published in the CNN.com, the study was published in the internationally acclaimed Journal of Threatened Taxa on February 26. In the report, CNN has quoted a senior research fellow Akashdeep Roy, at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.
“While African elephants are known to bury dead calves, this is the first time that the behaviour has been documented in Asian elephants. The burials were documented in areas home to fragmented forests and agricultural lands such as tea gardens,” Roy told CNN.
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“While elephants would not bury their dead in villages due to the high probability of human disturbance, the tea garden drainage ditches are a “perfect site” for calf burials. They hold the carcass with the legs or the trunk, it’s the only way they can get a grip on the carcass. Laying the body in the ditch and then covering it with mud is the easiest way for elephants to achieve a burial,” he explained.
The Times of India in its report from Kolkata has mentioned that the findings of multiple case studies have excited experts who study social behaviour in animals, as ‘calf burial’ has only ever been documented in a species of termite, but not in mammals.
In five case studies in north Bengal, herd members dragged the calves away from human settlements before burying them in ‘leg-upright position’ in irrigation trenches inside tea gardens. The Jumbos avoid paths where carcasses of calves are buried.
The cases have been documented in Debpara, Chunabhati, Bharnabari, Majherdabri and the New Dooars tea gardens near Gorumara and Buxa. The calves were aged between three and 12 months.
“The study area covered fragmented forests, tea estates, agricultural lands and military establishments between 2022 and 2023,” said Parveen Kaswan, DFO of Jaldapara wildlife division, formerly DFD of Buxa Tiger Reserve, who co-authored the study with Akashdeep Roy, to the TOI.
“We explained burial strategy of elephants in irrigation drains of tea estates by presenting five case reports. We found that the elephants carry the carcasses, holding on to the trunks or legs, for a distance before burying them. Direct human intervention was not recorded in any of the five deaths. Through long-term observation, we also found that the elephants in this region avoided paths where carcasses were buried,” added Kaswan.
He further told the TOI that while burying each carcass, members of the elephant herd ‘vocalised’ for about 30-40 minutes, which might signify mourning.
According to the news report, Roy and Kaswan were in the area to carry out other research when they found evidence of calf burials.
The researchers believe that more study needs to be done to explain this surprising / peculiar phenomenon and the science behind this.
