A story in the New York Times highlights a recent study, showing that elephants are adept at recognizing when another elephant is in emotional distress. The creatures exhibit "consolation behavior," very rare among animals. The article says: "Elephants clearly have strong emotional connections to other elephants and are highly intelligent, so it made sense to think that they might console one another."

What was this "consolation behavior?" Joshua Plotnik, the head researcher, says, "When one elephant was disturbed … other elephants—bystanders—gathered around. They made chirping sounds and touched the distressed elephant … which are reassuring gestures, for elephants."

Possible Preaching Angle:

The study is of interest because of the great rarity of true consolation behavior among animals. If elephants reach out to comfort one another, what stops us humans, especially us humans in the Church?