Rare Footage: Wild Elephants “Mourn” Their Dead | National Geographic
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ย. 2016
- Two weeks after the death of their matriarch, Victoria, wild elephants in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya continue to visit her remains and display unique behaviors seen only in their species. This video shows groups of elephant families using their trunks to touch and explore Victoria's carcass while standing peacefully in place. This rarely seen event is giving researchers insight into the elephants' social relationships. Though the researchers are hesitant to call this behavior "mourning," they do believe elephants display a specific reaction in response to the death of one of their own.
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VIDEOGRAPHER: Shifra Goldenberg/Save the Elephants
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Jed Winer
EDITOR: Jennifer Murphy
Rare Footage: Wild Elephants “Mourn” Their Dead | National Geographic
• Rare Footage: Wild Ele...
National Geographic
/ natgeo - บันเทิง
So if they do mourn, would that suggest that they have some form of understanding about their mortality as if they value their life? That's pretty sentient actually.
+winged hussar that's only because you think of intelligence the wrong way
It's likely that they simply understand that they won't see that individual anymore, and feel sadness over that. They likely don't associate that with the value of their own lives. But that's just my hypothesis.
I read an article before that says that old elephants tend to stray away from their herds because they can feel their impending doom.
Elephants are very sentient creatures, their brains are very developed amongst the animal kingdom comparable with that of chimps and dolphins. Elephants can do many things that few animals can such as recognize themselves in the mirror, show high levels of empathy, have a degree of artistic creativity although it's not true that elephants can paint as many are led to believe as they are been guided secretly by their trainers. However, they can select favourite colours and exhibit greater abstract thinking and problem solving skills compared with other animals.
All animals are sentient beings
Elephants not only mourn, they mourn everyone that they grow attached to emotionally, from humans to dogs to other elephants. If they loved it, they will not only mourn it, and mourn HARD, they will also create graves that they will visit and also have an emotional response to when they re-visit it at a later date.
Cows kind shows the same behaviour in the milk industry when their calf is taking away from them after birth. Stress and grief. its a bit concerning thinking about it. I think it makes the thought difficult of drinking the milk myself
Why is so hard for others to believe that a non human species has an emotional reaction
IrishLass 77 because animals don't experience emotions the same way humans do. So saying it's a simple as 'mourning' or something similar means they are reacting the same way a human would, when we know that isn't true.
Jacob Dexter wat
Humans have a tendency to 'project' emotions on to other animals. We know other animals do not have the same emotional reactions, it is hard for us as a species to accept other animals may not feel the same way we do, or if they do we can't prove it yet
Because people are stupid.
but we, ourselves are animals, and how can we know they dont have some form of emotional reaction? different people from different cultures portray certain emotions differently, and it can vary between individuals too, also some people are more sensitive emotionally whilst others are more focused, but still feel, and then there are people who seemingly have no emotion at all. we cant tell whats really going on with a different networking within an animals mind, and we cant read their thoughts, but does that mean that, for certain, they cannot have a human-like emotional reaction internally? given that we ourselves are animals, i believe it is safe to say that some, if not all mammals and possibly various other animals, are capable of emotional thought amongst other things.
thank you for your time.
They are clearly mourning. This is heartbreaking
It’s so beautiful how elephants value themselves as a species
Cows kind shows the same behaviour in the milk industry when their calf is taking away from them after birth. Stress and grief. its a bit concerning thinking about it. I think it makes the thought difficult of drinking the milk myself
@@andreasjonsson5071
Don’t worry. While cows are mammals, they aren’t super smart or anything. Even dogs outsmart them. From everything we can tell, they have no self-awareness.
Hmm, yea I see you point. But it still feels strange even though they might not be as smart as dog. Maybe its not the intelligence that makes it bothering@@genghisn7
elephants react to their own kind dying so differently than other animals do, they seem to have a much better understanding of death than most. Even other intelligent animals might try to coax a dead body to react or get up, but they seem to know thats not gonna happen, and they'll visit the body repeatedly, sometimes long after there's nothing left but bones, no other animals do that besides humans visiting gravesites.
Crows have funerals btw
This was such a deep comment and then I saw the pic and the name 😂
@@anothergamingchannel2656 😂
Well, humans created an idea of a place of eternal torment, so it’s no wonder non human animals might have a better grasp of death than us. Also, fun fact: What’s funny is, the pain you’d experience burning alive wouldn’t even happen if you’re dead, since your brain isn’t alive to sense the pain in the first place. The physical pain you experience is only because of your nervous system. Without a living brain, there’s zero pain. Period. End of story.
Rant over.
Seems like a funeral procession and a viewing of the dead. Very emotional response for a animal, never seen anything like it.
It's great to know that there are Beautiful People on TH-cam XO Cheers xo
Humana do it
Apparently they have rituals where every full moon they take baths and wave branches at the moon. Wonder if elephants have religion
@@mechadonia Who knows? They might. Or it could just be a ritual. We don't know how elephants interpret the world.
A few other species appear to have "funeral processions"...rhesus monkeys, chimpanzees, dolphins, rats, and a few species of bird including magpies and parrots/cockatoos (although cockatoos typically only display grief at the death of a human caretaker, they tend not to show these emotions with other members of their species in the wild).
To me that fact that they do this in spite of the possible dangers it presents (disease,possible predation) shows that there has to be some sort of emotional response going on. If it was strictly just curiosity they would have evolved to avoid that risk. I doubt they stop and caress other dead animal corpses this way. In my opinion emotion is the one thing that can cause animals to disregard their own safety and act counter intuitively.
That's exaclty what I thought. How would they know about old age and dying? They possibly would assume a predator caused it since animals are instinctively aware from witnessing hunts for millions of years. I'd say it's all 3 grief, shock, and simple curiosity. Since they're in a herd, there would be less fear of predators letting them have a chance to observe the body.
Many of them knew this elephant personally. They can recognize themselves, and they recognize others
@@MrsMelissaRich so you think that elephants which are putting colorful flowers and leaves onto their dead "friends" are just curious
Sry for my english
I I I though that was a leaf, but that was the dead ones ear. It was dried like that because the elephant had been dead for 3 weeks
They actually do. There is an example of a Kenyan woman who was sleeping under a tree, who woke up to find elephants surrounding her and burying her with leaves and dirt because they thought she had passed away
I learned from a Scientist at the Baltimore zoo that Elephants have 50x the memory capacity that a Human does. They remember every moment, of every second of the day from the time they are born, til the time they pass. They remember their own birth. They also have a resonating chamber to communicate. This resonating sound can be heard by other Elephants up to 15 miles away. Elephants being as smart as they are, also Love unlike any other Animal in the Kingdom. Some are even said to pass away from being so heartbroken. Which would mean they feel deep emotions. Seeing them Mourn is just another sign of how intelligent these beautiful Animals are. I think there's so much that Humans can learn from them. I'd be interested to see a Dolphin and Elephant in the same area, and see how they react to eachother. They are both clearly very intelligent , so it wouldn't be far fetched to see if they establish some sort of relationship.
Buffalo Titan it’s quite interesting to see how much an elephant remembers. They will find the body of there matriarch who could have died years ago and still do things similar to what happen in this video. They will cover the dead in dirt and sticks, they really are amazing creatures, and show a much wider span of emotions then we normally associate with animals other than humans
@@isolemnlysweariamuptonogoo3350 It's mystical in a way.
Very interesting.
Humans could also do that if they keep a journal 📔 for long enough.
Elephants literally crying in front of their dead grandmas and they be like
"Idk if they're mourning"
The experts know a lot, and people generally want to humanise everything. There’s a lot of animal behaviour that initially looks human, but turns out not to be. For example, when big cats in captivity lose their companion they often really do look like they are experiencing grief. But if you provide them with another companion they immediately stop and return to normal. It’s probably the stress of the pack of social interaction that is distressing them.
@@HkFinn83You could say the exact same thing about humans, when humans are isolated&lonely, they may miss their friends and become suicidal but if they're introduced to a new group of friends, suddenly they'll get on with life...
There's difference between humanising animals and pretending like certain emotions are exclusive to humans.
Since forever, experts and even philisophers were keen on defying what made humans unique to other species. Which is a lot. But in that process, we always declined anything that made animals like us. "They communicate using complex signals and movement but it cannot be a language because language is unique to humans." "They show emotions and complex social behaviours like lying but it cannot be a social life as that is unique to humans." "Grief is unique to humans." Humans are unique like every other species. But for some, this is not enough. We have to be uniquely unique and isolated from every other species.
@@RyokoYoichi i guess it's kinda scary to know that we're no different from the animals we hurt as we please
@@gabrielegenota1480 I mean, it's not not like we don't hurt each other.
Expert: Can't say if it's mourning
National Geographic: Elephants mourn their dead
Well she did say that the little evidence they had was supporting that hypothesis.
NeonR3D Who cares? It isn't a fact that they're mourning.
+zunedog31 So? Nobody knows what the facts are here. We do have a leading hypothesis though: that they're mourning.
it says "Mourn" as in you're "smart"
NeonR3D "Whether it is mourning I can not say, but it's certainly an interest in their dead"
became
"Rare footage: Wild elephants mourn their dead"
Come on, you have to know why writing an idea/observation as a fact garners more views, attention, and notoriety.
A good zoologist knows that you have to be careful about jumping to conclusions, especially since most of us want to humanize other animals behavior, however I'd say its safe to say that this body has brought about emotion in the elephants. They likely understand that they will never see this individual again. Chimpanzees are also capable of mourning, so I'd say this is a pretty solid hypothesis.
I agree.
You can see almost the same behavior in a lot of intelligent and group-oriented species, like wolves and orcas, and even 'dumb' animals will sometimes behave in a similar fashion. Humans don't give animals the credit they deserve. Just because they don't use tools or speak our language does not mean that they are stupid or void of emotion.
I wonder how Dolphins react to similar things, be interesting to see that and fully agree, I fully agree we shouldn't think of them as equal to use, that's not to say they're dumb or in anyway less intelligent or deserving of compassion in anyway as things are always relative anyway.
Rats are an incredibly intelligent form of rodents, they actually eat their dead ones as far as I am aware, the cannibals of the rodent world, again as far as I know or have heard.
Jeremy Smith dolphins are known to carry a dead calf for a few days after it has died, and will fiercely defend a dead calf from predators, even if they know it is dead
Wow I really did not know that, though to be fair I've never really known much about them, though to be fair that doesn't surprise me.
It's probably so depressing for them to have a death occur. They spend all their time accomplishing the only goal they've ever had, keeping moving, eating, and staying alive, but for some reason that they can't understand one day they each suddenly collapse and begin to rot into bones.
Sounds like you described humans.
Of course it's mourning, elephants are highly intelligent, sentient animals with emotios.
All animals are sentient
@@michaelgamerytmj677 Yes, but I think he means that elephants in particular are more complex and intelligent when compared to other animals.
@@michaelgamerytmj677 false
@Calm Mango there's a difference between consciousness and sentience
@@michaelgamerytmj677 Bivalves, coral, and sponges are not sentient.
Its definitely mourning, the way they move and hold their body is subdued and heavy looking and slow, instead of the regular powerful movement with purpose after coming in contact with the body.
Poor matriarch She was a Wonder full grandmother aunt sister mother and a good Leader She Was a good Elephant
0:53 I'm using headphones and I literally felt the mosquito
Ayooo 😂😂😂
😂😂😂
Oh my god I thought a mosquito is flying around me and you helped me to know that its in the video 💀
This is why i have high respect with elephants i love them.
The elephant is literally crying over their dead grandma. Leave them alone. They’re having a funeral
Didn’t they say the elephant wasn’t related to them?
the way the elephant stops in its tracks upon realizing what it's walking past at 2:30 tells me all I need to know personally
Yes
I’ve read a number of books on animal cognition. It is the absolute height of arrogance to assume we are the only species who feel emotion (in a cognitive sense, not just the fight or flight response, for example). We all watch each other in our lives and from that watching recognise what the other is doing or feeling. Animals and is watching animals are no different.
We don't know if they mourn and feel sadness, loss, grief and sorrow the same way we do, but elephants and humans being mammals, we share a lot of similarities so it's still a possibility that many of their reactions and stimuli also has a certain degree of resemblance to ours.
Imagine, as a westerner, watching a Thai funeral, or an Indonesian funeral, or a indigenous Brazilian funeral. Watching people cry, pay their respects, and comfort each other. Now imagine doubting that they had emotions. 🐘 ❤️
That wasn't so long ago
Cows kind shows the same behaviour in the milk industry when their calf is taking away from them after birth. Stress and grief. its a bit concerning thinking about it. I think it makes the thought difficult of drinking the milk myself
Elephants are such sensitive and intelligent animals. Simply beautiful and amazing. Thank you so much for this upload. Kind regards, D.J. of ThreeDNature
They are obviously mourning. Humans lack of empathy for other animals never ceases to amaze me.
What beautiful creatures
An Elephant never forgets where the bones are buried. ❤️
This fascinates me. And I believe this is true, respect, mourning all those emotions. 🙏🏾 LIFE
Elephants pass the "mirror test". That's why they're interested in a dead elephant carcass. They're self-aware. They know they're going to die too.
This is a freakin funeral procession. Unreal.
Magnificent creatures.
This is very heartwarming.
They cry, it's called crying
I think we vastly underestimate our fellow beings. We're not so different
I was watching that primal episode where the mammoth dies and I wanted to see if it was actually a real thing, if elephants and mammoths have funerals. Really beautiful to see this
The animation?
Of course they mourn! 😖 *Slaps with tusk*🐘
They are showing their love and respect
well Elephants have excellent memory...maybe they are recalling that particular event???
Mary Jane Omg also I believe it elephants have excellent memory and elephants have long memory and have very tight connection each other..
So beautiful, elephant so wonderful❤
Wow thank you so much
"do you know this guy ?"
"oh shit ! that's my old friend ! oh fuck why ?? why????"
" i'm sorry man..."
ahhh no, their bonds are WAY stronger than any human
They do mourn. You do not need words to be sad and grieve a loved one. For someone that works for nat Geo I really thought she would be smarter. Words and communication are not needed to validate that a being on planet earth does not feel the gravitation of sadness, loss and mourning. They may do it differently than us humans but that bond and love for one another is still there.
Elephants are so cool
Bruh they were basically crying from there temples. Listen to what she said about it and imagine your an alien looking at a human being whose crying. Seems like the same thing to me 😳
The four animals that do this are in the top most intelligent animals to ever exist this being dolphins, chimpanzees, crows and elephants so it’d make sense that they understand the value of mortality and it’s amazing how they can develop actual relationships that they value which would be the only explanation for them grieving
and the Humans
Orcas?
Standing there was their moment of silence. ❤
Why can't scientist just admit that these animals are smart enough to hurt, mourn, and miss their own?
Indeed
Why can’t you understand that just because you want something to be true doesn’t mean it is?
@@HarshDude126 why can’t you understand humans aren’t the only creature that’s intelligent
This is amazing
The video explicitly says that the professional person can't tell if they're mourning or not, whereas the title of the video says they're mourning with quote-unquote. I hope they communicate with each other better. I mean humans.
ryo0ka it’s in inverted commas
I have considered that they are intrigued by what their insides look like. I can imagine this is how humans were when we first discovering our anatomy.
As well as paying their respects to the dead.
I don't know if you guys have ever heard about that Female Indian elephant who became carnivorous to humans after her child was killed, but if that's not mourning and psychotic grief I don't know what is...
Source? I would like to read it. Very interesting.
www.themarysue.com/rogue-elephant-ate-human-flesh/ check the video here from animal planet!
Werdxp Woah thanks. So scary!!!!
That's a trait seen in humans as well, amazing. She went insane after her child was killed by humans and decided she wanted vengance on the whole species. I feel bad for her and her victims, oh and the baby elephant.
I like to imagine that it’s mourning, especially since those glands release when the elephant experiences strong emotions
Oh my God.When he cried I cried😭😭
I love elephants!
it is not really rare bc some zoologist noted that in some cases, elephant also bury their relatives with colorful stuff like leaves, flowers even fruits. and yet they bury those with the remains.
Amazing
surely they have at least a modest understanding of their own mortality. that's something to marvel over
My heart skipped a beat when I heard that fly at 0:54
Sri Ganesh please protect these beautiful animals
Such intelligent and curious creatures... Rarely do you find Braun AND Brain in one.
Videos of their reaction when their family members die seem to look like mourning. Anyone who has lost a spouse or a child knows that overwhelming pain where it is just too much where you can't process but at the same time so painful it hurts to even exist. They seem to show that exact things where it is difficult not to recognize it if you have lived it. Not many animals do that. I've only seen it before with a couple of house pets of someone who past or fellow house pet, but strange to see in the wild.
We should all aspire to be as good to one another as elephants are to each other
Wooow I never knew that they did this
very sad =(
Aww..... I want to give that elephant A BIIIIGGG HUUUG !
I wonder if maybe the dead carcass emits a smell that they enjoy or if it smells bad to them. Also maybe theirs some sort of spiritual practice going on by standing around the body. Very cool video to watch!!
Rip to those elephants who lost there lives
very sad. 😢
As fellow social creatures, it's not hard to see the similarities.
I try to convince my philosopher husband to join me for my animals documentary project. To study elephants is like reading the Bhagavad-Gita ^^
Even Elephants have compassion for their own....So Humans need to think about this before killing one!
There is such a thing as a healthy level of scientific caution and non interactive observation. Then ... there is human exceptionalism, excessive skepticism and extreme solipsism. The fact that many in the scientific community cannot entertain the idea that though many animals are very gifted problem solvers, social engineers and high architects with brains similar in sizes, functions and structures to our own, can experience emotions similar or comparable to humans is laughable.
This isn't scientific caution, it's Cartesian dogma pushed to a point of complete ridiculousness.
BRAVO
Based
W
Thank you Sir, finally a Comment that isn't dumb as Rock.
maybe they were trying to understand existence
*Dan Howell screaming in the distance*
so smart animal
I grew up heading cattle and i used to see them doing the same thing bellowing ,sniffing, jumping some will even fight it was like funeral ritual
You can see that elephant at 1:55 crying
You should see what hippos do. It's amazing. There's a scene in the Gustav crocodile documentary.
i'm not crying YOU'RE CRYING
what. is on the elephants back at 2:45 ? is it a tracker?
The elephants were crying awww :(
They have feelings as well
it its exactly how the mammoths did it in Primal. As fantastical the show gets, they are accurate about these kind of details
I love Primal, one of Genndy’s masterpiece
Lol
-Similar brain structure to humans
-Displays the same behavior as a human does to similar stimuli(death of close companion)
-has a physiological response identical to human, in response to said similar stimuli(crying)
Conclusion:
"i can't say for sure if elephants really feel sadness because i can't ask them"
Question:
If your standard of evidence for emotions in animals, is the animal himself telling you how he feels, how can you 'say for sure' that elephants even feel physical pain?
we know animals feel physical pain from neuron response, some parts of brains amongst all species are near identical, im talking about the inner brain or "reptilian" brain, its as basic as you can get and is responsible for fight or flight response, reaction to physical harm, release of chemicals for positive stimulus and other neurological reactions pertaining to sensory input. Feeling is a core to sensory input and sure, its intensity and general strength may vary amongst species, but pain is consistent, physical pain i can say for certain is felt by most, if not all animals, because its a reaction to physical damage, and you don't want life threatening harm to elicit a positive response in an animal, and so, animals will innately avoid pain where possible.
Psychological is a harder one to point out but i want to say something you may or may not have heard, you probably have...
A neural network as complex as a brain, in all forms, can be unique to some degree and develop, even in animals, neural networks have variation in them, you can see it in MRI and microscopes, if all animals brains were made with the consistency of modern machines, then the neurons in their brains should light up exactly the same every time they get hurt in the same way as another of their species, and their reactions would never vary, but they can vary, and often do.
As for me, can you say for certain that i, or your neighbour or family or a friend of yours, for certain, also feels real emotional or physical pain, or are just reaction because that's what we're "supposed to do" and these various examples don't actually feel anything? food for thought.
I’d say it’s mourning & paying respect or acknowledging the passing of a fellow-elephant... remarkable video
Sometimes elephants that lose their mother young they could mourn so hard that they won’t play with the other baby elephants!
Animals have souls.
It's called "mourning". The closest friends and family 'mourn' the most. This is a demonstration outside of 'other' species humans visiting a graveyard...!
I saw the yellow rectangle and kept thinking, “What is it about those branches?”
dude, this is sad😥😥😥😥
No one:
Absolutely no one:
0:54 Fly: *NOOYM*
Honour to the end!
I like to think that if they could talk to us, they'd have the same questions about life that we do.
It’s an elephant au
so sad.
so sad. :(
We humans need to get over the idea that we are the ONLY species that has emotions, that mourns the dead, that thinks, that is sentient. Just because they do not speak does not mean that they don’t feel the same way we do. It is so clear that elephants and many other animals mourn the exact same way us humans do.
the maternal bond is powerful. I believe all empathy is simply an extension of maternal bond. social animals simply extend the feeling to others in the group, since they do depend on each other (as does baby and mother). it really is this simple! paternal bond is the same to a lesser degree, perhaps, but very similar, since the mother carried the baby in her womb. (there is no biological separation for 9 months, and this simply extends psychologically upon birth). a mother is literally caring for her own flesh and blood. babies, boys and girls, learn this from mama, therefore, males too share in this beautiful expression.
We are no different to elephants or any animals life is all one energy of consciousness we share grief compassion
They are definitely feeling emotional distress over the death. We can't expect animals to express themselves in exact same way we do, but for us to assume they don't mourn in their own way is ignorant of us. Of course animals have emotions, they just dont have the same expressive ways to display it as we do.
Such great majestc creatures. What a world, all praise be to God for creating them and giving us eyes and understanding to appreciate such a creation.
Animals have feelings 😞