Articles for tag: animal emotions, elephant behavior, mourning rituals, , wildlife empathy

The Surprising Way Elephants Comfort Each Other After Loss

The Surprising Way Elephants Comfort Each Other After Loss

Gargi Chakravorty

Imagine watching a family member die and then seeing your entire community gather around, not to celebrate their life or say goodbye, but to offer you the exact support you need at your most vulnerable moment. This remarkable scene unfolds regularly in elephant herds across Asia and Africa, revealing one of nature’s most profound expressions ...

gray elephant playing with mud

Elephants That Mourn Their Dead

Suhail Ahmed

Under a merciless sun, a family of elephants gathers quietly around a fallen elder, touching the body with careful trunks as if reading a final story written in scent and skin. For decades, scientists called scenes like this mysterious, even anecdotal; now, a new wave of research is piecing together the evidence with rigor. Elephant ...

An african elephant on the grasses

Elephants Use Gestures to Communicate Desires with Clear Intent

April Joy Jovita

Elephants aren’t just intelligent; they’re intentional. A new behavioral study reveals that African Savannah elephants use deliberate gestures to express their desires, especially when interacting with attentive humans. This marks the first confirmed evidence of goal-directed gestural communication in non-primate mammals, expanding our understanding of animal cognition and social signaling. Testing Elephant Intentionality Researchers observed ...