Unearthing calf burials among Asian Elephants Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Elephantidae) in northern Bengal, India

Abstract

Rampant environmental changes and forest destruction push elephants, both Asian and African, to explore human spaces to fulfil their dietary and ecological requirements and, consequently in shared spaces many ‘novel’ elephant behaviors come into the limelight. Elephant calf burial is reported in African literature but remains absent from the Asian context. We report calf burials by Asian Elephants in the eastern Himalayan floodplains of the northern Bengal landscape. The study area consists of fragmented forests, tea estates, agricultural lands, and military establishments. Tea estates form the majority of elephant corridors, and we explain the burial strategy of elephants in the irrigation drains of tea estates. We present five case reports of calf burials by elephants. We aimed to understand the perimortem strategy and postmortem behavior of the Asian Elephants. The major findings reflect that the carcasses were carried by trunks and legs for a distance before being buried in a ‘legs-upright-position’. We further investigated the underlying reason for calf deaths through postmortem examinations. Direct human intervention was not recorded in any of the five deaths. Through opportunistic observation, digital photography, fieldnotes, and postmortem examination reports, we suggest that the carcasses were buried in an abnormal recumbent style irrespective of the reason for the calf’s death. Through long-term observation, we further report that the elephants in this region clearly avoid the paths where carcasses were buried. We discuss and connect the literature of two distinct elephant species and also compare thanatological studies of other sentient nonhuman species.