BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-09)

Severalcetacean

specieshavebeen

seenwiththeirdead

calves,including

bottlenose dolphins.

eatingfortwohoursbeforefinallymoving

on.Similarbehaviourtowardsdead

infantshasbeenreportedinothergiraffe

species,thoughnot towards unrelated

dead giraffes.

DOLPHINS

In2012,a tourboatoperatorfilmedan

adultRisso’sdolphincarryinga dead

andbadlydecayedcalfonitsback.The

adultrepeatedlyswamawayfromand

thenbacktothecorpse,touchingit and

swimming in circles underneath it. The

dolphinthenpushed

thecalfawayfromthe

watchingboatand

outtosea.Therehave

beennumerousother

reportsofdolphins

touching,carryingand

stayingclosetodead

calves,evenwhenat

advancedstagesof

decomposition.

DINGOES

In2008,a motherdingowasobserved

afterthedeathofoneofherfivepups.

Theremaininglittermatesseemedto

sensea changeinthepupasit was

deadanddying,treatingtheirsibling

ina subduedmanner,refrainingfrom

theirnormalnippingandbiting.The

motherthenmovedthedeadpupupto

fourtimesovera two-dayperiod,gently

movingit fromplacetoplace,seemingly

in an effort to keep it near to the family.

BBC Wildlife 49

ANIMAL GRIEF

September 2020

LEOMAWILLIAMSisa writerand

PhDresearcher,studyingconflict

andco-operation in social animals.

FINDOUTMORE AndréGonçalves, death

among primates:bit.ly/2DE9Mp4

a two-year-oldwildchimpanzeediedofa

respiratoryillnessinGuinea.Hismother

carriedhisbodyslungacrossherbackforat

least 27 days,demonstratingextraordinary

careevenasit rapidlydecomposed–

groomingit andholdingit closeto her.Bythe

endofthisperiod,hehadbecomecompletely

mummifiedandalmostunrecognisable.

Fromtheseexamples,youmightconclude

animalsgrieveaswedo.Whyelsewould

a chimpanzeeshouldertheburdenofan

inanimateinfantif notbecauseofa deep

emotionalbondthatit couldn’tbearto break?

Weshould,however,bewaryofascribing

humanthoughtsandfeelingsto animal

behaviours.Justbecausea behaviourlooks

similar to that of a human, it doesn’t mean

Ant: Mark Mo

ett/ Minden/Alamy; whale: Franco Banfi/naturepl.com; dolphin: Pedro Narra/naturepl.com

andelephants?Byassemblingaroundand

investigatingcorpses,groupmembers

couldbegatheringinformationabouthow

theanimaldiedandassessinga potentially

dangeroussituation.Animalsoftenlearnby

experience,formingassociationsbetween

twoeventsorstimuli.Corvidsoftenavoidthe

placeinwhicha corpsewasfound,suggesting

thattheyhavecometo associateit with

danger.Thisbehaviourwouldhaveobvious

evolutionaryadvantages.

Animalsmayalsobetakingstockofthe

socialchangesinthegroup.Allthespecies

mentionedhereliveinsocialgroups,where

therelationshipsbetweenindividualsoften

holdgreatimportance.Elephantslivein

matriarchalsocieties,forinstance,while

chimpanzeesandsomecorvidsliveingroups

withstrictdominancehierarchies,meaning

certainindividualsclaimaccessto a greater

shareoffood,mates,andotherdesirable

resources.A death,especiallyofa higher-

rankingindividual,canthrowthesepecking

ordersintodisarray.It maybeofparamount

importanceforgroup-livinganimalsto

keeptrackoftheirsocialstructure,to avoid

aggravatingthewrongindividual.Knowing

whohasdiedbecomesveryimportant.

Socialitymayalsoexplainwhygrief-like

behavioursareseeninsomespeciesandnot

others.Numerousanimalsexhibitresponses

to bodiesinsomeform,fromdisposal(ants)

to activeavoidance(rodents),butthemost

compellinghavebeenseeninanimalswith

complexsociallives.Theseanimalsalsoshow

strikingsimilarityintheirresponses.

Interpretingbehaviour

However,theexistenceoftheseshared

behaviouralpatternscanbeexplainedby

bothunemotionalandemotionalreasoning.

Youcouldsaythatsocialspeciesexhibit

complexresponsestodeathbecausethey

needtokeeptrackoftheirsocialgroupand

avoiddangeroussituations,oralternatively,

becausetheyformstrongemotionalbonds

thatareseveredbydeathandmourned.

It maybeimpossibletoknowwhich

explanationis moreaccurate.

Andso,wereturntotheoriginalquestion

• dohumansowngrief?Ultimately,this
  dependsonhowyoudefineit.If weare
  askingdoanimalsexhibittypicalbehavioural
  changesinresponsetoa death,thenbased
  ontheevidence,wecansayyes.Butif weare
  askingif animalsfeel sorrow akin to ours, we
  may never know.

Socialitymay

explainwhy

grief-like

behavioursare

seeninsome

speciesand not

in others.

itsfunctionormotivationis thesame.Some

scientiststhinktheremaybeless-emotional

explanationsforthesereactionsto death.One

ofthesegoesbackto howanimalsdiscernthe

livingfromthedead,knownastheanimacy

detectionmalfunctionhypothesis.

“Accordingtothishypothesis,such

behavioursarebroughtaboutbya perceptual

mismatchthatcausesa violationof

expectation,”explainsAndré.“Thecorpse

hasbothanimateandinanimateattributes,

andthiscausesa conflictbetweentwo

separatesystemsofknowledgeinthebrain,

onefordealingwithagents[livingbeings];

anotherforobjects.”

Putsimply,becausea deadcompanionstill

lookslikeananimateagentbutnolonger

actslikeone,animalsbecomeconfused.They

havenotaccuratelydetecteddeathandarestill

treatingtheindividualasif it werealive.This

couldexplainwhyprimatesgroomandeven

sexuallymountcorpses,andwhya mother

mightcarryherdeadbabyforsolong.

Inevolutionaryterms,it couldbe

advantageousfora motherto notabandon

herinfantuntil 100 percentsureit is dead.

Animalsdon’thavethesophisticatedmedical

meanswedoto confirmdeathwithaccuracy,

andit wouldn’tdoto abandonaninfantwho

couldbeina deepsleep.Thisruleofthumb

couldhaveevolvedto ensureinfantsurvival,

anda seeminglymaladaptivebehaviour

becomesa generallysensibleone.

Thishypothesisexplainssomecurious

reactionsto death.It doesnot,however,

explain all. What about the vigils of magpies