Great to see this sort of thing making it into the behaviour journals
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/scientists-see-depth-of-elephant-feelings/2006/08/15/1155407810586.html
>
> Scientists see depth of elephant feelings
>
>
> August 16, 2006
>
> LONDON: An elephant has been captured on film as she struggled to help
> another who lay dying from the effects of a snakebite.
>
> The astonishing pictures reveal the depth of compassion the creatures
> feel for each other.
>
> Scientists at the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya recorded footage of
> Eleanor as she fell to the ground after being bitten. Another elephant,
> Grace, was seen
> calling out in distress and trying desperately to get the stricken
> elephant to her feet.
>
> But the 40-year-old matriarch was too ill to respond and by the
> following morning she was dead. That day elephants visiting her body
> rocked back and forth or
> stood silently nearby.
>
> It was a dramatic demonstration that elephants, like humans, show
> compassion after one of their own species has died. Although Eleanor was
> from a different
> family, Grace still came to help her.
>
> The research team, from Oxford University, the charity Save the
> Elephants, and the University of California, will report the
> observations in the journal Applied
> Animal Behaviour Science.
>
> Radio tracking and direct or recorded observations found that five
> families visited the dead Eleanor, showing a distinct interest in her
> body.
>
> The study concluded that elephants were interested in sick, dying or
> dead elephants, irrespective of a genetic relationship: "It is an
> example of how elephants and
> humans may share emotions, such as compassion, and have an awareness and
> interest about death."
>
> Most animals appear to show little interest in the dead of their own
> species, although chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants have been
> described as being concerned
> about ailing or dead peers.
>
> The study's lead author and founder of Save the Elephants, Dr Iain
> Douglas-Hamilton, from Oxford University, said: "This behaviour in an
> animal species can be
> compared to human behaviour and indicates that such feelings as
> compassion may not be restricted to our species alone."
>
> But the researchers observed limits to elephant compassion. Eleanor's
> calf died because no female would adopt and suckle her.
>
> Telegraph, London
>
>