This is the heartbreaking moment a grief-stricken mother elephant carried the lifeless body of her dead calf to its final resting place in a powerful funeral ritual.
Sombre footage shows the mourning elephant taking her calf towards an acacia tree in the Torra reserve in Damaraland.
Other members of the herd converge and walk together in silence as part of a respectful procession for the late elephant.
A grieving mother elephant has carried the lifeless body of her dead calf with her trunk in a heartbreaking funeral ceremony in Namibia
Sombre footage shows the grief-stricken elephant taking her calf towards an acacia tree in the Torra reserve in Damaraland
The calf was less than a week old when it died after water dried up in the area.
While other younger elephants continue to play in the reserve, many of the older members all turn and walk towards the tree where the calf is laid to rest.
Safari guides told Corriere della Sera they had never seen elephants performing a funeral ceremony before.
The two rivers serving the Torra reserve have both run dry in recent weeks with the wells also out of order.
Other members of the herd converge and walk together in silence as part of a respectful procession for the late elephant
The calf was less than a week old when it died after water dried up in the area
After the ceremony, the elephants continued as a group in hope of finding water.
Elephants have been known to observe funeral rituals, often laying branches over a corpse shortly after death.
They also have been seen raising their feet above a dead body in a symbol of remembrance, or scattering their remains.
