Elephant Funeral: They Were Touching Where Her Tusks Had Been - Joyce Poole

Elephants are loved for their expressive eyes and their social family structures. The African pachyderms that have been under assault for their prized ivory tusks also are intelligent and sensitive enough to understand the loss of one of their herd, says National Geographic Explorer Joyce Poole. She tells Boyd that years ago, she watched an elephant die of natural causes. Several members of the elephant's herd tried to revive her for an hour, but kept returning to the body. Once park rangers removed the deceased elephant's tusks, Poole says that the herd members were focused on the tusk wound, and kept smelling and touching it. Poole suspects elephants understand the threat that humans pose to them.