Can other animals understand death? - Barbara J. King

Do nonhuman animals experience grief? Explore mourning in the animal kingdom to find out the answer to this tricky question.

--

In 2018, an orca called Tahlequah gave birth. But her daughter died within an hour. Tahlequah, however, didn’t leave her body. Over the next 17 days and 1,600 kilometers, she kept it afloat atop her own. By altering her feeding and travel patterns, Tahlequah’s behavior was certainly unusual. But was she mourning— or just confused? Barbara J. King explores whether nonhuman animals experience grief.

Lesson by Barbara J. King, directed by Denis Chapon, The Animation Workshop.

Support Our Non-Profit Mission
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Connect With Us
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Keep Learning
----------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia, Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer, Javid Gozalov, Kyanta Yap, Rebecca Reineke, William Biersdorf, Patricia Alves Panagides, Yvette Mocete, Cyrus Garay, Samuel Barbas, LadyGeek, Marin Kovachev, Penelope Misquitta, Hans Peng, Gaurav Mathur, Erik Biemans, Tony, Michelle, Katie and Josh Pedretti, Hoai Nam Tran, Kack-Kyun Kim, Michael Braun-Boghos, zjweele13, Anna-Pitschna Kunz, Edla Paniguel, Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart and Tyron Jung.

[macngeeseyt]

When one of cats passed away, my other 4 cats were looking for her for over a year afterword.

[robertwatts]

I think it's really arrogant of us humans to think we're the only ones who feel. It doesn't take much observing to realize some animals definitely feel some form of grief and other emotions. It may not be remotely the same but there's definitely some kind of feeling there.

[PyritePlays]

I had a dog who passed away, and her sister didn't do much besides look for her and lay around and look like she might cry. So yes, I believe that animals experience grief

[Mariofan]

I can see why humans may not think animals grieve. Animals don’t express emotions as humans do, but they have their own way of communicating. They have their own way of grieving. Just as humans while similar, grieve differently.

[scriptorpaulina]

I saw a horse die of grief once—he stopped eating, drinking, resting, grooming… it was very sad, because you could tell he was uncomfortable and unhappy even when we tried to comfort him.

[kirbymarchbarcena]

If animals can express anger, happiness, and fear, then they can express other emotions such as grief.

[charliegordon-qhll]

I have seen what I would classify as grief in the many dogs I've had throughout my life. I am wary of anthropomorphizing non-human animals but there are some human emotions that my mind recognizes in non-human animals.

[gman]

Anyone who's had a pet knows animals have feelings. You can sense it

[kittyocean]

I once saw a duck (female) hit by a car. The body was moved away from the street and onto the sidewalk, waiting for the city to clean it up. A mallard landed next to the dead duck and sat down. He didn't move, until after the city took the body. That was the moment I realized animals are not 'just animals'.

[natileroxs]

The fact that some people think animals don't grieve is so weird to me. My cat would whine and yowl for days after my other cat passed away. We made sure he had seen her body before we buried her, just so he wouldn't be confused and so he could mourn with us. Animals have such deep emotions that we really just don't have the capacity to understand yet.

[adamkey]

Animals (mammals at least) definitely have emotions. I know this is anecdotal but the last cat I had was a rescue cat that was a few years old. We brought him home and he was obviously confused and frightened. Ran about all over the place. I said his name and he instantly stopped, did a double take and stared wide eyed. As if wondering 'how does this person know my name?' Exactly the same facial expression a person makes when shocked/surprised. They feel emotions, they just can't vocalise them like a person would.

[isabelleblake]

I am an animal scientist and biologist and have studied grief in dogs. Although anthropomorphizing other species is dangerous, I can say with certainty that some animals DO grieve by most accepted definitions. We will never know the thoughts or emotions of another species truly, but it is important to act with caution and consideration when making husbandry decisions and grant our animals every comfort we can, especially when they have lost a companion or family member.

[DB-meol]

It is interesting how human act as if they are the only ones who feel grief and can think but then act in the coldest, thoughtless ways

[alexchan]

I remember when my brother moved out and didnt visit in a very long time, our dog became extremely lethargic and would hardly eat for a long time. My mom was actually worried that his health was declining and that he may have been dying. I've been told by my family that he also becomes distressed and showed signs of depression when I leave for more than a week. He would sleep on my bed every night waiting, and go into my closet and lay on my laundry. It makes me sad that not long from now I'll be moving out, I'm so worried he'll react the way he did to my brother leaving.

[potatomatop]

As an animal, i can confirm that i grieve.

[anthonyyoung]

I had two parrots, both siblings. One was called Curro, the other was called Pollo. They are brothers and sisters. Both Pollo and Curro used to live in the same cage and never fought. They were taught to talk or learned through imitation. They could speak each other's names and a plethora of other words. However, four years ago, Curro passed away and Pollo, I think, fell into a depression. He stopped speaking a lot and barely likes to come out of his cage anymore. Additionally, Pollo can imitate a crying noise as he copied it from my baby brother. But sometimes he would randomly say Curro and then proceed to cry, even up to today. Of course, this could just be a coincidence, but I know for a fact that his actions and demeanor forever changed when Curro passed away. Therefore, I believe that animals, at least from my experience, such as birds, can feel grief and empathy.

[oliviadavis]

One of my hens went broody and hatched four chicks. She was a great and protective mother. Her nest was attacked by a raccoon not long after. While she guarded the babies bravely, one was killed by the raccoon. (She had sustained some superficial cuts and claw marks from using her own body to shield the chicks, and lost some feathers, but the other three chicks were not harmed in any way.) she could definitely tell, and I could definitely tell too. While her other chicks were happy and energetic as ever, clearly oblivious to the absence of their sibling, the mother hen was depressed. She did not eat for three days, barely seemed to have enough energy to stand with her chicks as they ate. She stood in one spot for long periods of time while her chicks played, not interacting with them, her head tucked close to her body. When you looked her in the eye, you could see clear as day an overwhelming sadness. It took her about a week to get mostly back to normal, and the healing process was definitely sped up when i gave her two foster chicks to raise days later. It was like she was reminded that despite her grief, she still had five other babies depending on her. Some may argue that she was behaving like that because of the minor wounds she received protecting her babies during the attack, but chickens are able to hide pain extremely well and the cuts were not enough to cause such intense behavior changes. Chickens hide their pain on purpose as a survival method (if they look weak, they’ll be targeted by predators). And later, the wounds became infected (we treated them and they went away) but they were much more painful like that. Except she’d recovered emotionally by then, and we had no idea for weeks. I believe she was definitely grieving and understood that her baby died.

[late]

Thank you for the correct title "other animals". Some humans really have the hubris to think we are separate from the animal kingdom.

[eunoia]

I had a family of stray cats living in my garden for quite a while. One of the kitten's body was found dismantled with her tail and limbs detached, probably from the attack of another cat. The mother soon left with her kittens, though used to come back and wail occasionally, like every third day. She still visits the place, and cries for a considerable time. Her wails were so agonising, it's like she was violently lamenting over her child's death. Her wails still ache me.

[daniyalshah]

The thumbnail of the elephant grieving sums it all they are the most emotive and family oriented species on earth