An elephant has once again broken the heart of the Internet.
A few weeks after cameras caught a baby elephant crying because his mother tried to stomp on him, a photo has surfaced of one of these animals in Africa standing over her deceased friend.
According to photographer John Chaney - who snapped the image as part of the 2012 National Geographic Traveler photo contest - the female stood guard over the corpse of her fellow creature for hours, chasing off birds and predators and eventually wrapping her trunk around her pal's tusk.
The photo was taken in 2007, but only recently went viral.
As memorable and as depressing as this picture is, we can at least take solace in knowing that elephants can also know unbridled joy.
Take this one playing soccer, or this elephant playing in the pool.
Still, too many elephants in are being killed for their ivory (35,000 in 2012 alone, according to wildlife conversation groups), an issue Hillary Clinton hopes to do something about.
The Secretary of State has announced an $ 80 million effort to stop this senseless slaughtering.
"Unless the killing stops, African forest elephants are expected to be extinct within 10 years. I can't even grasp what a great disaster this is ecologically, but also for everyone who shares this planet," she said.
The Hollywood Gossip