People call the lion the king of beasts. However, the elephant is also one of the mighty predators. According to explorers, very few ferocious wild animals dare to duel with an elephant alone. Even fearless buffaloes, fierce and cruel leopards, and the mighty lions, known as the king of beasts, retreat when they encounter an elephant. Only tigers sometimes dare to engage with mother elephants with their young. This suggests that elephants are also fierce beasts of the mountains and dense forests. However, as long as they are not attacked by external enemies, they are unexpectedly gentle. They establish close relationships with all domestic animals, wild antelopes, giraffes, flocks of wild birds, and zebras. They also have a strong “friendship” with humans. In India and other Southeast Asian countries, raising elephants is no different from raising cattle and horses in China; they are the natural “transportation tools” of these countries.
Although elephants have a close bond with humans, no one has ever seen how elephants die in the jungle, nor has anyone found the remains of elephants that died naturally. This unsolved mystery of the elephants’ final resting place has attracted countless zoologists and explorers, all trying to find the path to the elephants’ graveyard. However, elephants have always kept this secret strictly, not allowing people to see their graves.
According to the legend of the inhabitants of Sri Lanka, when old and weak elephants feel that their end is near, they leave the herd and walk alone to the place where their ancestors and relatives are buried—in the depths of the island, in the impenetrable forests, to the ruins of the ancient city of Anuradhapura. Among the ruined gardens and fortresses lie countless piles of whitening bones, which are the remains of dead elephants.
Some explorers have indeed found graveyards with piles of elephant remains. However, many zoologists believe that this single fact does not prove that elephants have an instinct to gather in one place before death. The phenomenon of elephant bones being piled together is likely due to water currents washing them into valleys. Some zoologists also speculate that elephants go to swamps before they die, sinking into the depths of the mire, making it impossible for people to see or find their bodies. Which of these explanations is correct remains to be determined by scientists, who need to collect more data and find sufficient factual evidence to conclude this mystery.