Publish at January 14 2026 Updated January 14 2026
For a long time, it was said that only humans had an awareness of death and had devised rites surrounding the end of a life. As far back as 100,000 years ago, traces of burial were already present in certain corners of the world, when people were nomadic. It was with the advent of sedentary life that mankind developed the idea of necropolises and monuments to commemorate the dead, of which dolmens are the earliest examples.
However, animal research is now showing that some animals do have a concept of death. Chimpanzees, for example, will react with fear or flight to the corpse of a fellow chimpanzee who has died of disease or old age, and mothers will sometimes carry their deceased babies around with them for days on end.
Elephants in particular seem to have a sense of death. They will tend to cover their loved ones with branches and leaves, and five baby elephants have even been found, in Indian tea plantations, buried on their backs with their legs pointing skywards. Almost like a funeral ritual still unexplained by specialists in animal behavior.
Running time: 3min13
Image: Mirjam Van Otterlo from Pixabay
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