Heartbroken Elephants Mourn Their Baby in a Human-Like Funeral Procession

Last Friday, Parveen Kaswan, a forest ranger in the Indian Foreign Service, shared a deeply moving video of Indian elephants performing a funeral-like service for a baby elephant. The heart-wrenching footage has since gone viral, leaving social media users awestruck and filled with sympathy for these gentle giants.

In the video, initially posted on Youtube, an adult elephant emerges from the bushes, tenderly holding the lifeless body of a baby elephant in its trunk. The scene is both somber and touching, as the adult carefully places the baby’s body on the ground, standing guard as it waits for others to join. Slowly, more elephants arrive, walking in a single file as if in a formal funeral procession. They encircle the baby elephant, paying their respects in a powerful display of grief and solidarity.

What happens next is even more poignant. The original elephant lifts the baby once again, with other elephants following closely behind, forming a somber parade of mourning.

Elephants have long been known to exhibit grieving behaviors, much like humans do, and this footage is another powerful testament to their capacity for empathy and mourning.