Elephant Mourning: Fact or Fiction? – Londolozi Blog

The mourning rituals of elephants have captured the attention of numerous biologists in the past. Elephants have been known to investigate old elephant carcasses, smelling the bones, moving them with their trunk and feet, and at times gathering in abundance around the area in which an elephant died. Many have described this as a ‘fascination’ with other dead elephants, others have described it as active mourning, but the reality is that much of the deeper emotional lives of elephants remain unknown.

This behaviour was documented on Londolozi a few years ago when elephants moved a large elephant skull. To refresh your memory, read The Mystery of the Moving Elephant Skull: Part 1; Part 2; and Part 3. I was lucky enough to recently witness the phenomenon with my own eyes not too long ago.



Earlier this year, a large elephant bull died of natural causes on Londolozi. As one can imagine an elephant carcass provides a lot of mouths with a fairly decent-sized meal. From the larger predators and scavengers such as lions and hyenas through to other opportunists and of course, an enormous number of vultures. Over a matter of days, all that was left were bones. One of the things that I appreciate most about nature is that nothing goes to waste.

Vultures take flight around an elephant carcass. As you can see – it becomes a feeding frenzy for scavengers. The vultures were scattering as hyenas approached the carcass to feed.

Fast forward a few months, we were on a game drive in search of the Nkoveni Female and her cubs. The route we chose took us past the area where the elephant died earlier this year. By this stage, the bones from the carcass were no longer concentrated in one area. Some had been moved by hyenas, others by vultures, and some very likely by elephants themselves. There was a breeding herd of elephants in the area and sure as day, two sub-adults were smelling some of the bones and moving them around. After explaining to the guests in our vehicle what I thought was happening and captured what I could of this incredibly interesting behaviour.

Sniffing the bones with its trunk.

The lower mandible of the dead elephant was framed by one of the young members of this herd that was smelling the carcass

We stuck around for what felt like five minutes, but after looking at my watch I realised we had been there for just shy of an hour! We watched in silence and awe as numerous individuals passed through the area, investigated the bones, moved them around, followed the rest of the herd, and continued feeding. It is hard to capture the feeling that we had watching this play out but I hope it gives you a taste of the moving experience we were lucky enough to have that afternoon.

The relationship between elephants and carcasses was explained in depth a few years ago, but to summarise the conclusions drawn from research conducted on this behaviour; it is clear that elephants have a clear fascination with the death of their own species. Experts have gone so far as to say that elephants investigating the skull of their own species may very well be able to recognise the identity of the fallen member. This makes sense, as elephants will often greet each other by smelling another individual’s tusks and placing their trunk in the mouth of another. For such intelligent animals with an incredibly acute sense of smell, this doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

A greeting ritual between two Elephant cows whereby both individuals raise their trunks towards the others mouth and tusks

Others have gone on to say elephants display advanced cultural behaviour due to their strong social structures and deep emotional connections. Because of this, they may even pay their respects to a fallen member by throwing grass and sand over bones in an attempt to ‘bury’ it – a cultural norm observed in many modern societies.

Whatever the reason may be, for me, it was a moving experience. That was the first time that I had observed this behaviour with my own eyes and I certainly won’t forget it.