Watch: Grieving elephants take part in 'funeral procession' of dead calf
New Delhi: A video clip posted by Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan on Twitter a few days ago showed an elephant coming onto a road, carrying the body of a dead calf.
In the video, with another elephant, the rest of the herd emerges – bulls, cows and calves – and cluster around the body. Then, after spending what seemed like a minute in silent prayer, the first elephant picked up the carcass again and led the herd back into the forest.
This will move you !! Funeral procession of the weeping elephants carrying dead body of the child elephant. The family just don’t want to leave the baby. pic.twitter.com/KO4s4wCpl0
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) June 7, 2019
"This will move you!! Funeral procession of weeping elephants carrying the dead body of a child elephant. The family just doesn't want to leave the baby," the caption of the video read.
There are theories which talk about ancient elephant cemeteries in forest. Many people have written about it, including strecy. But I have not found any conclusive evidence. Though in most cases elephants prefer to die near water bodies. https://t.co/C2BoTsF6Q1
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) June 9, 2019
In a separate tweet, Parveen Kaswan touched upon theories of "ancient elephant cemeteries" in the forest.
"Many people have written about it. But I have not found any conclusive evidence. Though in most cases, elephants prefer to die near water bodies," he said.
The exact location of the video was not immediately known.
