Elephant Burials

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Elephants are one of few animal species with intelligence and a capacity for empathy similar to that of humans. They habitually bury their dead by placing sticks and leaves over a member of their herd that has died. They are not known to bury animals other than elephants, but in some cases they have mourned humans with which they had established a relationship, leading to the theory that elephants will bury other animals with which they have had a direct relationship, but only those animals. Surprisingly, however, elephants have been found to visit the burial locations of other elephants they never knew in life.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the surprising finding?