@biglifefoundation: A GRIEF ENCOUNTER? It’s been heartwarming to read the many tributes to One Ton, and it appears that it’s not just humans that have paid their respects. This remarkable video by Ride ol Donyo shows an inquisitive bull elephant taking time to gently smell and touch One Ton’s carcass, and the volume of elephant droppings around his body suggest this hasn’t been the only visitor. Elephants preferentially seek out elephant bones compared to other animal remains, smelling them, moving them, even putting them in their mouths. There have been countless observations of elephants standing over other elephant bodies, even placing branches or grass on them. What is more intriguing is that they do this regardless of whether the dead elephant is a relative or known to them. It’s a behaviour that touches the core of us as humans. To see such profound reactions to death in another species deepens the affinity we have for these remarkable mammals, and it’s no stretch to believe they are expressing a form of grief. It’s possible that because of the intensity and longevity of elephant relationships, they might experience a strong sense of compassion for a dead elephant they didn’t know. Or perhaps they inspect all carcasses in a bid to find out how the elephant died, demonstrating a level of curiosity we would typically associate with humans. The truth is we simply don’t know what is taking place in their enormous brains, and we might never know. What we do know is that One Ton’s carcass will deposit an avalanche of nutrients into the soil in a final gift to this landscape. It will become a micro-ecosystem, supporting millions of insects in the short term and hundreds of grazing animals in the long term. A lasting legacy from an extraordinary being. #elephant #conservation #kenya

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Wednesday 22 July 2026 16:10:28 GMT