Indian scientists studied the behavior of pachyderms burying prematurely dead baby elephants. They report rituals and reactions similar to human mourning.
Elephants buried the calves in the irrigation canals of tea plantations, a few hundred meters from human settlements. Asian elephants are on the list of endangered species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mainly in India but there are also a few in Southeast Asia. Outside of captivity, they live on average 60 to 70 years.