At IFLScience , we bloody love a nature documentary film . They fetch the wild into our homes so that we can travel the orb from the safety of our sofas , but every now and then , they rescue a fit so heartrending it stays with you for a long time . Most late , this included the curious behavior of a herd of hippos following the death of an old bull’s eye .
The scenery spread out inKatavi : Africa ’s lessen Paradise , a new series being aired byPBS Naturethat explores the center of Africa ’s Great Rift Valley . The Katavi National Park spans more than 7,800 hearty kilometers ( 3,000 straight international nautical mile ) of westerly Tanzania , and it was here that the filmmakers appropriate a once - in - a - lifetime effect as a severe drouth adjust in keep an eye on heavy rainwater .
These weather extremes test even the most impressive of wildlife , from lions to crocodile and hippos . It marked the tough drought in almost a century , and one that the animals struggled to survive .
One someone that fell was an erstwhile male hippo , his bloated body be adrift in the water surrounded by the rest of his herd . What unfolded next is something we ’ve insure before in other animals thought to mourn likeelephants , but something that ’s considered a rare observation among hippo .
“ As a new day dawn on a radically change hippo colony , the old Taurus the Bull who was once their shielder , the Father-God of their new , lie stagnant in one of the last remaining water supply duct , ” order the series narrator . “ One by one , the clan approach and lead off gently nose him . It ’s not clear what is pass here . ”
“ As more gather around his eubstance , it ’s hard not to interpret this behavior as lamentation . Or at least as a way of follow to terms with their loss . This type of procession has been observed with elephant , but is extremely rare amongst hippos . ”
In 2018 , scientists witness a female river horse interacting with the carcass of a juvenile person . She repeatedly moved it around and lifted it out of the water , and tag off crocodiles adjudicate to feed on it . This aggression was strange between this group of hippos and crocodile , thescientists say , and it ’s potential her altered behavior was a kind ofepimeletic behavior , which name beast attempt to care for sick , offend , or dead someone of the same species .
This conduct has been observe among a wide range of animals , fromprimatestoorcasandelephants , and has been compared in some representative to a form of grieving . It ’s one of several tear - buck displays see in nature after the death of an animal , and if you really want to give those ducts a exercise , why notwatch the last colorful showing of a Labord ’s chameleonbefore her decease ?
If you ’ll excuse us , we postulate some tissues .
