Elephants - all anyone has to do is read up on elephants mourning the death of one of their friends - it's so sad. From this link:
2004-07-27
Elephant companions mourn passing of Tina
It's true elephants don't forget.
When 34-year-old Asian elephant and former Northwest pachyderm Tina died last week, her mates appeared to remember her with an unusual display of elephant mourning behavior. The elephants stood vigil at her grave for two days, and when they finally left, one of them marked the spot with a favorite tire. They left the tire there for three days.
"There were footprints all around where Tina lay, and the tire at the center," said Carol Buckley, co-director of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., where the Portland-born elephant had been living for the past year. "I think we can only touch the surface of the depth of their emotion."
If elephants have long memories, so do those who love them. Tina had been living at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in British Columbia before being transferred to the sanctuary because of a painful, chronic foot condition. Her unexpected death last Wednesday has touched people all over the world.
[snip human nonimportance]
Tina, who delighted in consuming great bunches of grapes, and had bonded with her fellow sanctuary residents, Sissy and Winkie, was a "kindhearted, gentle creature," said Buckley. "She befriended everyone she met."
That may be because her early years were spent at the Vancouver Game Farm, which later became the Greater Vancouver Zoo, where visitors could feed her directly through her fence.
"She was used to very close, physical contact," Buckley said. And she interacted that way with her elephant companions, pushing at them playfully as though testing whether they would get mad.
They didn't. Sissy and Winkie, in particular, were faithful pals who checked in regularly with the less mobile Tina. They were by her side when she died.
Researchers have long puzzled over the apparent grieving behavior elephants exhibit.
In the wild, elephants have been known to cover the bones of other elephants when they come across them. And they often will stay with a dead or dying member of the herd.
"Because they are highly intelligent, highly social creatures, they do create relationships," said Bruce Upchurch, curator of mammals at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, who has worked with elephants for 20 years.
Last Wednesday after Tina died, three of her closest elephant companions entered the stall to touch her face and trunk.
"Winkie kept moving Tina's trunk with her foot, trying to get her to stand up," said Buckley. Sissy and Winkie stayed in the barn with her the whole time bulldozers worked to dig her grave. Then Winkie walked beside the backhoe carrying Tina's body, her trunk touching Tina the whole way.
During the necropsy, Sissy and Winkie were kept behind a fence, where they paced and appeared anxious. When they were released, they returned to the grave and stayed for two days.
After that, they rejoined the rest of the elephants at the refuge, and the whole group huddled "shoulder to shoulder" for a day as though to console one another, Buckley said. Normally, they would have spread out to graze, often within 100 yards of one another.
During that time, Sissy took her own favorite tire up to the grave and left it there.
When one dies, elephants appear to go through a period of acknowledgment and adjustment, Upchurch said.
"The only way we have to describe what we witness (in the elephants) is through human language," he said. "But that might be selling them short."
[snip]
Community Mourns Tina
In the middle of Tina's gravesite in the pastures of Tennessee, there sits an old, battered tire.
After two days of standing by Tina's grave at the Elephant Sanctuary, best friend Sissy finally left Friday morning, leaving behind her favorite tire as a tribute to her friend.
"In the middle of the gravesite, there's elephant prints all over it and in the middle of it is Sissy's tire," said Carol Buckley, director of the Elephant Sanctuary. "Sissy carries a tire around as her pacifier, as her security blanket...and her tire is left on top of the grave."
I have read of other elephant mourning, where they actually cry, tears run down their faces. Animals most definitely do have emotions, some are just better at expressing them.
Elephant companions mourn passing of Tina
It's true elephants don't forget.
When 34-year-old Asian elephant and former Northwest pachyderm Tina died last week, her mates appeared to remember her with an unusual display of elephant mourning behavior. The elephants stood vigil at her grave for two days, and when they finally left, one of them marked the spot with a favorite tire. They left the tire there for three days.
"There were footprints all around where Tina lay, and the tire at the center," said Carol Buckley, co-director of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., where the Portland-born elephant had been living for the past year. "I think we can only touch the surface of the depth of their emotion."
If elephants have long memories, so do those who love them. Tina had been living at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in British Columbia before being transferred to the sanctuary because of a painful, chronic foot condition. Her unexpected death last Wednesday has touched people all over the world.
[snip human nonimportance]
Tina, who delighted in consuming great bunches of grapes, and had bonded with her fellow sanctuary residents, Sissy and Winkie, was a "kindhearted, gentle creature," said Buckley. "She befriended everyone she met."
That may be because her early years were spent at the Vancouver Game Farm, which later became the Greater Vancouver Zoo, where visitors could feed her directly through her fence.
"She was used to very close, physical contact," Buckley said. And she interacted that way with her elephant companions, pushing at them playfully as though testing whether they would get mad.
They didn't. Sissy and Winkie, in particular, were faithful pals who checked in regularly with the less mobile Tina. They were by her side when she died.
Researchers have long puzzled over the apparent grieving behavior elephants exhibit.
In the wild, elephants have been known to cover the bones of other elephants when they come across them. And they often will stay with a dead or dying member of the herd.
"Because they are highly intelligent, highly social creatures, they do create relationships," said Bruce Upchurch, curator of mammals at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, who has worked with elephants for 20 years.
Last Wednesday after Tina died, three of her closest elephant companions entered the stall to touch her face and trunk.
"Winkie kept moving Tina's trunk with her foot, trying to get her to stand up," said Buckley. Sissy and Winkie stayed in the barn with her the whole time bulldozers worked to dig her grave. Then Winkie walked beside the backhoe carrying Tina's body, her trunk touching Tina the whole way.
During the necropsy, Sissy and Winkie were kept behind a fence, where they paced and appeared anxious. When they were released, they returned to the grave and stayed for two days.
After that, they rejoined the rest of the elephants at the refuge, and the whole group huddled "shoulder to shoulder" for a day as though to console one another, Buckley said. Normally, they would have spread out to graze, often within 100 yards of one another.
During that time, Sissy took her own favorite tire up to the grave and left it there.
When one dies, elephants appear to go through a period of acknowledgment and adjustment, Upchurch said.
"The only way we have to describe what we witness (in the elephants) is through human language," he said. "But that might be selling them short."
[snip]
Community Mourns Tina
In the middle of Tina's gravesite in the pastures of Tennessee, there sits an old, battered tire.
After two days of standing by Tina's grave at the Elephant Sanctuary, best friend Sissy finally left Friday morning, leaving behind her favorite tire as a tribute to her friend.
"In the middle of the gravesite, there's elephant prints all over it and in the middle of it is Sissy's tire," said Carol Buckley, director of the Elephant Sanctuary. "Sissy carries a tire around as her pacifier, as her security blanket...and her tire is left on top of the grave."
I have read of other elephant mourning, where they actually cry, tears run down their faces. Animals most definitely do have emotions, some are just better at expressing them.
