A herd of up to 300 elephants stayed close to their leader and mourned following its death at the hands of a rival tusker in Sri Lanka.

Footage captured on September 16 near Anuradhapura, close to the Kalawewa reserve, shows how the crowd of elephants softly caress the leader's corpse just after it was killed by a rival.

The sight drew the attention of locals, who went to film the scene.

According to a wildlife official, the rival tusker returned to the corpse once the rest of the herd had left.