Grieving chimpanzees

[mada85]

In this thread a link was given to a UK Daily Mail article about a group of magpies grieving for their fallen friend.

Here is another article from the same news website, entitled: Is this haunting picture proof that chimps really DO grieve? This article is about a group of chimpanzees on a reserve in Africa and their reaction to the death of one of their number. The picture really is haunting. It makes me wonder what the chimps would have been doing if the fence was not there . . .

 

[Annette1]

IMO, I think that animals do grieve. Many years ago, I was staying at my brother's home. He had two dogs; mother and son. The female died (of old age) and my brother discovered her body when he returned home from work. For the next two weeks, the male dog howled in the evenings. I heard it and there was no mistaking the pain/grief in the dog's howl. It was heart wrenching. The male dog had never spent a day without it's companion/mother.

Another incidence I witnessed was a dog separated from it's owner. It was a family, who's head (the father) was going to be apart from the family for three months. The dog was most attached to this person within the family. The first three nights of the father's absence the dog howled. How the dog knew that this was to be a prolonged separation I have no clue.

These instances, among others I've experienced, have always led me to the conclusion that animals possess telepathy (as well as "feelings"). Further, I believe this telepathy enables them of a certain sensitivity with regard to humans, meaning I think animals are capable of interpreting some of our basic emotions and they relate to us through this ability. Further, it seems to me that this is another good reason to treat animals with dignity and respect.

 

[Nienna]

I agree, Annette1. I watched a tv documentary about a man who lived with some wolves, he raised them from pups, let them loose in a protected, fenced area, and then studied them. He was getting them ready to reintroduce into the wild so he pretty much left them alone.

One of the members of the pack was killed by a cougar. She was the lowest in the pack hierarchy, and yet, all of the wolves grieved for her when they found her dead. It was truly heartwrenching to watch.