# Are there any creatures that bury their dead?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-creatures-that-bury-their-dead/448316>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 6, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-creatures-that-bury-their-dead/448316 "2008-05-06T17:36:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-creatures-that-bury-their-dead/448316/1 "2008-05-06T17:36:11Z")

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Are there any creatures that bury their dead apart from humans?

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**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-creatures-that-bury-their-dead/448316/2 "2008-05-06T17:41:35Z")

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[Elephants do.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_intelligence)

> [@](#):
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> Elephants are the only other species other than humans and Neanderthals known to have a ritual around death. They show a keen interest in the bones of their own kind (even unrelated elephants that have died long ago). They are often seen gently investigating the bones with their trunks and feet, and remaining very quiet. They also bury their dead. Sometimes elephants that are completely unrelated to the deceased will still visit their graves.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-creatures-that-bury-their-dead/448316/3 "2008-05-06T18:51:09Z")

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I don’t know if it counts as burial, but there are ants and possibly other social insects that remove dead individuals from the colony and dump their corpses in a refuse midden with other waste. I guess that probably doesn’t count, as they’re just treating it the same as any other unwanted clutter.

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**Author:** ![bjbrashier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@bjbrashier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bjbrashier)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-creatures-that-bury-their-dead/448316/4 "2008-05-06T19:49:34Z")

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“Burying” the dead in a sort of reverence for the departed would require a level of thought that most believe not to be present in any other species.

“Burying” in the sense of putting them in a ditch or out of the way place or otherwise hiding them happens occasionally. Ants, as above. Most animals, though, understand instinctively that corpses bring scavengers and so on, and so either get rid of the body in some fashion or leave the area themselves. Not the same as burying, perhaps, but it’s about as close as you get.