Heartbreaking Photos Show A Mother Elephant Carrying The Body Of Her Deceased Baby For Days

The photos taken at Twyfelfontein Country Lodge in Namibia show a mother elephant wrapping her trunk around the soft, upper legs of her calf. William Stegmann, a spokesperson for Twyfelfontein Country Lodge, told Newsweek: “The calf was born on October 27 within the Huab River herd. We call it the Rosy Group because the matriarch of the herd is named Rosy.”

According to Stegmann, from the very first day after birth, the calf was not very well and struggled to keep up with the herd as they traveled a long distance to reach a water source. “On October 28, the guides still saw the calf, but we speculated that it had died that evening. The heartbreaking photo was taken on the morning of October 29.”

According to Twyfelfontein Country Lodge, the mother elephant only put the calf down while she was feeding. After two days, the matriarch drove the mother away from the calf’s body, and the herd, including the mother, continued to move on.

“Elephants, like other mammals, have a similar basic nervous system structure to humans. Despite distinct specializations in the nervous systems of different species, the brain remains preserved through evolutionary processes and follows the same basic principles of neural function. They also have brain structures related to emotions similar to those in humans,” said Bob Jacobs, a professor of neuroanatomy and animal communication at the University of Colorado.

According to Jacobs, while we can never know exactly what elephants think or feel, there is reason to believe that mammals experience something akin to what humans go through in similar circumstances. John Poulsen, an elephant ecologist and conservationist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, noted: “The behavior of carrying the dead calf has also been observed in other elephant species. All three elephant species show mourning for their deceased offspring, although to my knowledge, only savanna elephants and Asian elephants display the behavior of carrying dead calves.”

These behaviors are similar to those seen in primates, challenging the common notion that only humans are aware of death. However, the underlying mechanisms or motivations for the behavior of carrying dead calves in elephants are not yet fully understood.

According to Poulsen, the mourning response in mother elephants may be linked to the fact that elephants have a very long gestation period, which leads them to invest significantly in their offspring. Additionally, their large brains and intelligence might allow them to understand death to some extent.

“First, it seems that animals with strong cognitive and social connections tend to show more awareness of death. Second, the long gestation period and the close bond between mother elephants and their calves may influence their behavior,” Poulsen said.

Poulsen added: “The relationship between a mother elephant and her calf lasts until the calf is able to survive on its own. This period fosters the calf’s social development and bonds it with the mother and other family members. Therefore, maternal instinct or the mother-calf bond could lead to the behavior of carrying a dead calf.”

However, carrying a dead calf might not necessarily be a sign of mourning for the deceased offspring but could indicate a lack of understanding that the calf is dead. “Ironically, the behavior of carrying a dead calf might reflect a lack of recognition of death signs, and thus the mother may perceive it as a calf that is unresponsive.”

Elephants are highly intelligent and social animals, with females living in tight matriarchal family groups. They are believed to reach sexual maturity between 8 to 15 years of age and full maturity around 18 years old. An elephant’s gestation period lasts about two years. Unlike humans, newborn elephants are able to walk shortly after birth.