The natural world exhibits intricate behaviors, including how some animal species interact with the remains of their deceased. This topic sparks human interest, prompting questions about animal intelligence, social structures, and survival instincts. Observing these interactions provides a unique window into the diverse strategies animals employ, from practical responses to behaviors suggesting complex social bonds.
Animals Known to Bury
Many animals engage in behaviors that involve burying or concealing objects, including deceased individuals or waste. Domestic cats, for instance, instinctively cover their feces. Some wild canids, like wolves and coyotes, cache surplus food by burying parts of a kill for later consumption; wolves can bury up to 15 pounds of meat from a single meal. Badgers are also adept at burying carcasses, sometimes large ones, to preserve food.
Elephants exhibit behaviors related to covering their dead, particularly calves. African forest elephants use leaves and branches to cover deceased herd members. Asian elephants have been documented burying calves in irrigation ditches, moving the bodies and covering them with soil, often involving multiple herd members. Beyond mammals, certain insects are notable for their burying habits. Burying beetles actively inter small animal carcasses, such as birds or rodents, which serve as a food source for their larvae. Dung beetles also bury dung, either for food storage or as a place to lay their eggs.
Reasons for Burial
The motivations behind animal burial behaviors are diverse, primarily driven by survival and ecological factors. Hygiene and disease prevention play a role, particularly for species that bury waste. For instance, domestic cats covering their feces helps reduce pathogen spread and minimizes odors that might attract predators. Social insects, like ants and termites, remove or bury dead colony members to prevent disease within their dense populations.
Predator avoidance and concealment are significant drivers. Hiding carcasses prevents scavengers from locating a food source or detecting a predator’s presence. This also protects young animals by obscuring signs of activity around a den or nest. For many carnivorous animals, burying is fundamentally about resource caching, ensuring a food supply for future consumption. Wolves, coyotes, and bears bury excess prey to protect it from other scavengers and to preserve it.
Territorial marking can also be a reason for burying waste, as the buried material conveys scent signals. Complex social and emotional aspects are considered, particularly in highly social mammals like elephants. Elephants display behaviors suggesting mourning or grief, such as covering their deceased with soil and vegetation or revisiting burial sites. Scientific consensus on the extent of “grief” in animals remains an evolving area of study, requiring caution to avoid anthropomorphism.
Methods of Concealment
Animals employ various physical methods to bury or conceal objects, utilizing their natural anatomy and environmental resources. Digging is a primary method, with many animals using their paws, snouts, or specialized limbs to excavate soil. Coyotes, for example, use their snouts to push debris over items they are caching. Badgers, known for their strength and digging abilities, create extensive holes to cover remains.
Covering involves pushing materials such as soil, leaves, branches, or other debris over the item. Grizzly bears drag large kills to secluded spots, covering them with dirt, branches, and snow to conceal and slow decomposition. Elephants utilize their trunks and feet to toss dust, soil, and branches over deceased herd members. Burying beetles, despite their small size, are remarkably efficient, maneuvering beneath a carcass and “plowing” soil to make it sink, then covering it with several inches of soil.
Some animals carry items away to a secluded spot rather than burying them directly at the discovery site, often seen with smaller prey items or waste. Utilizing existing structures like burrows, dens, or natural depressions can also serve as concealment. Dung beetles may roll dung into a ball and bury it, or tunnel directly under a dung pile to conceal it.