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February 17, 2006

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q. Along with humans, which other species appear to "respect" their dead with special observances?

    A. Few pay any interest, but chimpanzees show prolonged and complex behavior towards a dead social partner until the carcass starts to decompose, says "New Scientist" magazine, reporting on the work of Karen McComb. Elephants it seems never forget and may even pay "homage" to the bones of dead relatives. When McComb presented African elephants in Kenya with skulls from another elephant or a buffalo or rhinoceros, the pachyderms showed interest only in the skull of their own species, "smelling and touching it with their trunks and at times touching it lightly with their feet." Presented with an elephant skull, a piece of ivory and a piece of wood, the creatures showed strong preference for the ivory, then the skull. "The research team could not corroborate stories that elephants specifically visit the bones of dead relatives."


     
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