Chimpanzees "grieve for their dead like humans"
Too often people say that animals "have no feelings" as a way to excuse the way they treat them, almost as if it will be a way to justify their cruelty. I think these opinions are wide of the mark
Today (27th April 2010) I read in a newspaper about the death of an elderly female chimp at a British safari park. In the days before her death the other chimps were very quiet and paid close attention to her. Just before she died they caressed and groomed her and appeared to check for signs of life
They left her soon after, but her adult daughter returned and spent the night by her side
When the keepers removed the body next day, the other chimps were subdued and avoided sleeping on the platform where the female had died even though it had always been one of their favourite places to sleep
This led James Anderson, a researcher at Stirling University who had observed the chimps to say,
"Science has provided strong evidence that the boundaries between us and other species are nowhere near as clearly defined as many people used to think"
In another study, Dr Dora Biro spoke of two chimp mothers in the forrests of Guinea who carried their babies mummified bodies for weeks after they died. They groomed them, carried them and took them to their nests before gradually letting go. The other members of their group showed no aversion to the corpses
"The discovery has ‘implications for our understanding of the evolutionary origins of human perceptions of death", added Dr Biro
I have never studied chimps but i did notice a big change in our lovely pet rat Pinky when her sister Minty died. They were both very active and loved curling up together to sleep. When Minty died Pinky spent some time sniffing and grooming her body. We felt is was important to leave her sister with her for a short time to help her understand what had happened rather than have her sister just be gone
In the days that followed we noticed that Pinky was much more subdued than normal and that she was going to her sisters favourite areas of the cage and sniffing as if she was looking for her or perhaps just remembering her sisters smell
She is gradually getting back to her old self, we just have to make sure she gets a bit more attention and she is never one to turn down the odd treat!
Dorothy's funeral picture by: Monica Szczupinder