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

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This study discusses the novel behavior of Asian elephants in the eastern Himalayan floodplains of northern Bengal, where environmental changes and forest destruction have forced them into human spaces. The study focuses on the burial of elephant calves, a behavior previously reported in African elephants but not in Asian ones.

The study area is a mix of fragmented forests, tea estates, agricultural lands, and military establishments, with tea estates forming the majority of elephant corridors. The researchers present five case reports of calf burials, noting that the elephants carried the carcasses by trunks and legs before burying them in a ‘legs-upright-position’.

Postmortem examinations were conducted to determine the cause of death, with no direct human intervention recorded in any of the cases. The researchers observed that the elephants buried the carcasses in an abnormal recumbent style, regardless of the cause of death. They also noted that elephants in the region avoid paths where carcasses were buried.

The study connects the literature of two distinct elephant species and compares thanatological studies of other sentient nonhuman species.

== See also ==
{{See also/elephant}}

== External links ==

* https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/8826/9721  Journal of Threatened Taxa
[[Category:Elephant (research)]]
[[Category:India (research)]]