第一次全面的回顾揭示了大象是如何与死去的大象互动的

第一次全面的回顾揭示了大象是如何与死去的大象互动的

Although many members of the animal kingdom take an interest in their dead, a few notably intelligent creatures are known for their complex and lengthy interactions with deceased members of their clan. They are primates, whales and dolphins, and elephants. The latter have been observed “mourning” their dead many times, but until now, a comprehensive look at the literature on this topic was lacking.

虽然动物王国的许多成员对他们的死者很感兴趣，但有一些非常聪明的生物以他们与他们家族的死者之间复杂而漫长的互动而闻名。它们是灵长类动物、鲸鱼、海豚和大象。后者已经被观察到“哀悼”他们的死亡很多次，但直到现在，一个全面的这个主题的文献是缺乏的。

A new review published in the journal Primates has assessed previous observations of elephants interacting with their dead to tell us more about the nature of their behavior. Interestingly, the authors note that elephants interact with their dead regardless of the strength of the bond between the living elephant and the deceased individual. This, they write, suggests that elephants have a “generalized interest in their dead.”

发表在《灵长类动物》杂志上的一篇新评论评估了此前对大象与它们的尸体互动的观察，以告诉我们更多关于它们行为的本质。有趣的是，作者们注意到，不管活着的大象和死去的大象之间的联系有多紧密，大象都会和死去的大象互动。他们写道，这表明大象“普遍对尸体感兴趣”。

Rachel Baxter

The literature review focused on 32 observations from 12 different sources. Eleven of the studies focused on African savanna elephants, while one looked at the rarer African forest elephant. The researchers also conducted their own original observations, studying elephants that visited a dead matriarch known as Victoria in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve in 2013.

文献综述集中在12个不同来源的32个观察结果。其中11项研究集中在非洲稀树草原象身上，而另一项研究则着眼于较为罕见的非洲森林象。研究人员还进行了他们自己的原始观察，研究了2013年在肯尼亚桑布鲁国家保护区拜访一位名叫维多利亚的女族长的大象。

"The most commonly recorded behavior of elephants towards their dead included touching, approaching the dead animal and investigating the carcass," said Dr Shifra Goldenberg, from the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, in a statement. Elephants were observed interacting with carcasses at all stages of decay, from freshly dead animals to “scattered and sun-bleached bones.”

圣地亚哥动物园保护研究所和史密森尼保护生物学研究所的Shifra Goldenberg博士在一份声明中说:“大象对待尸体最常见的行为记录包括触摸、接近动物尸体和调查尸体。”在大象腐烂的各个阶段，从刚死的动物到“散落的、被阳光晒白的骨头”，大象都被观察到与尸体相互作用。

"The motivations underlying observed behaviors are hard to know, but clearly varied across circumstances and individuals,” Goldenberg added. “For example, some elephants made repeated visits to a carcass, and it's possible that temporal gland streaming by a young female at the site of her mother's carcass is associated with heightened emotion." An elephant’s temporal glands are modified sweat glands between its eyes and ears that produce an oily secretion.

Goldenberg补充说:“很难知道观察到的行为背后的动机是什么，但很明显，在不同的环境和个人中，动机是不同的。”“例如，一些大象会不断地去看一具尸体，而年轻的雌象在她母亲的尸体旁流过的颞腺很可能与高度的情绪有关。”大象的颞腺是位于眼睛和耳朵之间的汗腺，它会分泌油脂。

The researchers also note that the animals used their strong sense of smell to identify the dead, and even attempted to lift or pull elephants that had just died. They were also witnessed producing vocalizations at the site of the dead elephant.

研究人员还注意到，这些动物用它们强烈的嗅觉来识别死者，甚至试图举起或拉刚死的大象。他们也被目击到在大象尸体的地方发声。

Elephants are remarkably clever beasts. They use tools, show empathy, have highly impressive memories, and are socially complex. They live in matriarchal groups that divide and merge over the years in what is known as a fission-fusion society. They form strong bonds and are able to recognize many other elephants, including, it would seem, those that have died. Future research will tell us more about the funerary behaviors of these awe-inspiring animals and reveal new insights into their unique brains.

大象是非常聪明的动物。他们使用工具，表现出同理心，有非常深刻的记忆，并且具有复杂的社交能力。他们生活在母系氏族社会中，在一个被称为分裂-融合的社会中分裂和融合多年。它们之间形成了牢固的纽带，并且能够识别许多其他的大象，包括那些看起来已经死亡的大象。未来的研究将告诉我们更多关于这些令人敬畏的动物的丧葬行为，并揭示它们独特的大脑的新见解。

"Witnessing elephants interact with their dead sends chills up one's spine, as the behavior so clearly indicates advanced feeling," said Dr George Wittemyer, from Save the Elephants and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. "This is one of the many magnificent aspects of elephants that we have observed, but cannot fully comprehend."

来自科罗拉多州立大学“拯救大象”和鱼类、野生动物及生物保护系的乔治·维特梅尔博士说:“亲眼目睹大象与它们的尸体互动让人不寒而栗，因为这种行为清楚地表明了一种超前的感觉。”“这是我们观察到的大象的许多壮观的方面之一，但无法完全理解。”