Elephants are the only species on the earth known to have death ritual besides man. They show a strong interest in the bones of their own kind.They are often seen gently touching the bones with their trunks and feet while remaining very quiet.Sometimes elephants completely unrelated to the dead will still visit their graves. Elephant researcher Meredith recalls something in his book about a typical elephant death ritual.The entire family of a dead elephant,including her young baby,were all gently touching her body with their trunks,trying to lift her. The elephant herd were all rumbling :The baby elephant was even observed to be weeping and made sounds that sounded like a scream,but then the entire herd fell incredibly silent.Then they began to throw leaves and dirt over the body and broke off tree branches to cover her.They spent the next two days quietly standing over her body.They sometimes had to leave to get water or food,but they would always return. Events of elephants behaving this way around human beings are common throughout Africa. On many occasions,they have buried dead or sleeping humans or helped them when they are hurt. An old woman fell asleep under a tree.When she woke up,there was an elephant standing over her,gently touching her.She kept very still because she was frightened.As other elephants arrived,they began to scream loudly and buried her under branches.She was found the next morning by the local people,unharmed.     George Adamson also recalls when he shot all elephant from a herd that kept breaking into the farmers'gardens.George gave the:elephant's meat to 1ocal men and then dragged the rest of the body miles away.That night,the other elephants found the body,took the leg bones,returned them to the exact spot the elephant was killed,and made the death ritual. Elephants touch the bones of their own kind to   _  .
express sorrow at the death search for the hunter clean their trunks and feet call for other elephants