按照这个传说，象冢一定是堆着数不清的象牙，这对贪婪的人类来说可是笔巨大的财富，一定会吸引很多人去寻找的，可是至今没有人声称自己曾找到过象冢。
According to this legend, elephant tombs must be piled with countless ivory, which is a huge wealth for greedy human beings and will attract many people to look for, but no one has claimed to have found them.
可能大象真的会这么做。其实我们在野外也会发现大象的尸体，不过大多数都是一些偷猎象牙的人杀死大象后留下的。
Maybe elephants do. In fact, we can also find elephant carcasses in the wild, but most of them are left by some ivory poachers after killing elephants.
实际上，很多动物都会在临死前把自己埋掉，大象就是其中之一。
In fact, many animals bury themselves before they die, and elephants are one of them.
近年来，科学家们给出了解释，大象这种会把自己掩埋或者被群体掩埋的行为，其实是为了避免尸体腐烂后造成群体感染疾病甚至瘟疫，用土掩埋，可以减少细菌的传播。这些动物明白，可以利用环境来在自己死后为群体留下一个较好的公众卫生环境，以保证群体能够延续。
In recent years, scientists have explained that elephants, which bury themselves or by groups, can actually reduce the spread of bacteria by burying them in soil in order to avoid mass infections and even plagues caused by decay of corpses. These animals understand that they can use the environment to leave a better public health environment for the group after their death, so as to ensure the continuity of the group.
除了大象，比较常见的蜜蜂也会这么做。垂死的蜜蜂不喜欢独自出去寻找墓穴，而是喜欢在自家巢穴里寿终正寝，我们比较少会发现腐烂的蜜蜂，或者是感染疾病的蜂群，那是因为垂死的蜜蜂会把自己包裹在一层蜂蜡里。蜂蜡隔绝了空气，蜜蜂的尸体被很好的保存在里面，既不会腐烂也不会传染病菌。
In addition to elephants, the more common bees do the same. Dead bees don't like to go out alone to look for graves, but like to die in their own nests. We seldom find rotten bees, or colonies of infected bees, because dying bees will wrap themselves in a layer of beeswax. Beeswax insulates the air, and bee carcasses are well preserved inside, neither decaying nor infectious.