Saying good bye to an old friend

[Luddly Neddite]

Elephant Says Goodbye To An Old Friend (PHOTO)

"There is one universal experience, that's death. That is something we are all going to experience at some distance in the lives of loved ones, strangers and friends, people around us and certainly our own."...

...This incredible photograph was taken by John Chaney as part of the 2012 National Geographic Traveler photo contest. Chaney wrote that the female elephant in the image, which was taken in 2007, stood guard over the body of her friend for hours to pay her respects, chasing off birds and predators. She then wrapped her trunk around the other's tusk in a heartbreaking goodbye.

 

[longknife]

Sometimes animals act more human than humans do.

 

[Claudette]

Yup. Thats why I think more of my dogs than I do most people.

 

[Connery]

This is both tender and heartbreaking...

 

[syrenn]

They are also know for standing and inspecting skulls of long dead members of their family.....

Elephants may pay homage to the bones of dead relatives in their home ranges, a study of the creatures' responses to skulls and ivory suggests.

Humans apart, only a few animals show any interest in their own dead. Chimpanzees show prolonged and complex behaviours towards a dead social partner - but abandon them once the carcass starts decomposing. But lions, for example, might sniff or lick a dead member of its own species before proceeding to devour the body.

African elephants have been observed to become highly agitated when they come across the bodies of their own, and they have been seen to pay great attention to the skull and ivory of long-dead elephants. However, this interest had not been tested experimentally.

Now research from a team in the UK and Kenya has demonstrated that African elephants pay a higher level of interest to elephant skulls compared with those of other animals and ivory compared to wood.

Elephants may pay homage to dead relatives - life - 26 October 2005 - New Scientist

 

[skye]

Beautiful and touching.

Thank you for posting.