Good Material

by Dolly Alderton

Elephants grieve in a similar manner to humans. Unbelievable as it may sound, they perform rituals of mourning and they even cry. They inspect, scatter and bury the bones of their dead for reasons that are largely still a mystery to us. The fact that they interact with the remains of their fellow elephants cannot be explained with a simple evolutionary reason and suggests a depth of emotional life that is far more complex to analyse. Why do elephants have a relationship to the carcasses of their own kind? Why is this their chosen way of saying goodbye?

“Life is a bit more difficult for women. More difficult than it is for us, I mean. And you don’t need to ask them to explain why or understand it all. You just need to be nice to them.”