Re: elephant burials

b.schafer@ed.ac.uk (Burkhard) writes:

some time ago, Martin, I and a few others discussed burials, and the
way humans think about and relate to dead ancestors.
>
One question in this context was if similar behaviour can be found in
other animals. Here's a short paper on a recently discovered "elephant
graveyard" - carefully argued I'd say, without overegging the evidence
https://theconversation.com/elephant-calves-have-been-found-buried-what-does-that-mean-225409?
>
and here the academic paper it's based on
https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/8826

There might be an evolutionary advantage in burying dead, as it doesn't
assist the enemies of the elephant by giving them an easy meal. Lions
can probably smell a corps from some distance if it isn't buried.

I searched back for discussions about burial and found a rather hostile
one about Homo naledi.