Do any animals bury their dead?

Elephants will scatter dirt over the bodies of their (or sometimes even human) dead, and cover them with foliage. For obvious reasons it would be hard for them to dig an actual grave so I would say this counts. They are also said to remain with the body for days after the death, and sometimes revisit the bones years later. read more

Perhaps its because of their size, but they are often overlooked in terms of intelligence in the animal kingdom. Elephants displayed a clear preference to the skull of one of their own as opposed to those of other species. read more

Animals that have funerals take it one step further and seem to make “rituals” out of their grieving. Call it anthropomorphism if you want, but either way, watching these animals mourn hits close to home. read more

And the list of non-human animals that seem to do so keeps expanding: recent reports suggest that giraffes and western scrub jays may mourn as well, each with their own customs. But we humans like to convince ourselves that we are somehow special, unique among the entire animal kingdom. And in some ways, we are. read more