A grieving female elephant carrying a stillborn baby: Federico Veronesi’s best photograph

Photographer Federico Veronesi describes an image of a female elephant carrying a stillborn calf through a dry riverbed in Namibia. The scene initially seemed to show a mother carrying her young, but researchers later identified the elephant as another female, making the photograph a poignant record of how she responded to other elephants’ losses.

Veronesi followed the herd for several hours; the female put the calf down briefly to feed, then carried it on until the elephants climbed into rocky hills. Researchers say 17 of 19 calves born in the area over four years did not survive, though the cause is unclear. The female had miscarried two years earlier and has since been seen carrying other mothers’ stillborn calves; Veronesi used black and white to emphasise the elephants’ skin texture and the scene’s emotional weight.