In Bengal, a mother elephant carries the carcass of her dead calf

Throughout Friday, a mother elephant roamed tea estates and fringe areas of Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, carrying the carcass of her calf in her trunk. The mother was seen struggling to lift her dead calf with her trunk in Ambari Tea Estate, Jalpaiguri, in a video that has gone viral on social media.

The mother elephant appeared agitated in the video. She struggled at first to lift her dead calf. However, the mother tusker is seen walking with the calf’s carcass seconds later before disappearing into the tea gardens.

The calf died on Friday morning in the Dooars region’s Chunabhati tea garden in Banarhat block, according to forest officials. With a herd of about 30-35 elephants, the mother elephant picked up the calf’s carcass with her trunk and meandered from one tea garden to the next.

The elephant herd had travelled over 7 kilometres, according to officers. The elephants travelled from Chunabhati to Ambari, Diana, and Newdooars tea gardens before burying the calf’s carcass near a bush at Redbank tea garden.

Several teams from the state forest department arrived on the scene, but they were unable to recover the carcass or guide the distraught mother elephant back to the forest until Friday evening. The cause of death has yet to be determined, but forest personnel are currently stationed in the area, keeping a close eye on the situation, according to officials.

Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund reports that Northern Bengal is an important habitat for nearly 400 resident elephants. This region accounts for more than a quarter of all elephant-related deaths in the country. Elephants, on the other hand, are highly empathetic animals capable of complex emotions, according to Newsweek. According to a study, Asian elephants, in particular, have shown empathy for other distressed animals and have even been known to physically assist dying calves.

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