Nonhuman Animals Mourning
Animal Mourning
Elephants
Elephants and Mythology:
“Because elephants seem to be conscious of death, they are thoughts to be capable of
emotion. Researchers have found considerable evidence of elephants gathering
around a fallen comrade, even burying it with earth and branches. This
remarkable ritual is a behavior anecdotally related to a mourning process.
In Hindu mythology, the elephant symbolizes the very deep
and powerful creative processes in the human psyche. One of the
legends depicts eight male elephants arising from an egg in the right hand of
Brahma, and eight females from another in the left. All elephants, divine and
real, are descended from these sixteen legendary beasts. The divine elephant is
called Megha, or ‘cloud’, a poetic image that conjures that elephant’s size,
albeit not its weight. When it is properly worshiped, the elephant’s symbolic
affinity with real clouds is thought to give it a magical power to summon rain.
Also, the divine elephant Airavata became the mount of Indra, and the chief
attendant of Shiva is Ganesha, god of writing and wisdom, who had the head of
an elephant. Because of the connection of the elephant with clouds and the
rainmaking in Hindu mythology, the elephant can be seen physiologically as a
symbol of the self, the far-reaching totality of the personality from which all
inner fertility and consciousness proceeds.
The Chinese saw the elephant as a symbol of strength and cleverness.
The Romans associated the elephant’s intelligence with the god Mercury.
Because the elephant can live longer than most animals,
it is considered in many cultures a symbol of longevity and
victory over death. Thus, the elephant is also a symbol of the deep-seated
wisdom, knowledge, steadiness and imagination that exist, although often
hidden, in every person.
Finally, the elephants have a curious symbolic relationship to snakes.
An ancient belief was that when the female elephant gave birth,
the make elephant protected it from attack by deadly snakes.
The snakes in this case represents the universal and deeply backward
pull of the unconscious, which leads ultimately to death, while the elephant
represents resistance to that urge- the forward momentum of the life force.”
[My bolding of text. Source: Caspari, Elizabeth, and Ken Robbins. "Elephants." Animal Life in Nature, Myth and Dreams. Wilmette, IL: Chiron Publications, 2003. 98-99. Print.]
The stories below are from observational research of African animals as well as elephants kept in captivity. The stories demonstrate the common mourning practice of elephants. Elephants travel in herds or parades and they are very social animals. There are many anecdotes about elephants returning to the location where their relatives have died.
From the observational research of African elephants, when an elephant dies, the herds of elephants will stop to examine the elephant bones. Different elephant herds will stop for elephant bones, which shows that the bones of the deceased do not have to be a relative or member of the elephant groups that stops to examine the bones.
When a herd of elephants comes across elephant bones, there seems to be a common ritual; the group will remain near the deceased elephant or bones while each elephant will sniff and touch the bones with their trunks. They will also touch the bones with their front feet. This consistency in routine between different groups of elephants suggests that elephants do have empathy, for all fellow elephants not just for their own kin, feel emotions and some kind of mourning practice.1
Another Short Video About Elephant Mourning From National Geographic:
"Elephants Mourning: Just how aware are these elephants? Some scientists think they may cry when sad, just like humans....see more"2
[Source: 1. Jason G Goldman. "Death Rituals in the Animal Kingdom" (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120919-respect-the-dead)]
2. National Geographic. "Elephants Mourning" (http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/elephant_african_mourning)
“Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things.
They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.”
― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals
Dogs
Dogs are often associated as “protectors”, a characteristic used to describe the loyalty of dogs to human.
In the few videos below, it is clear that while the dogs are mourning their loved ones, human and nonhuman, they act as protectors of the resting site. As well as the dogs, the other examples of nonhuman animal mourning I have provided also act like protectors over their losses. The dog, elephant, dolphin, whale and chimpanzee anecdotes show them in close proximity to the bodies of the deceased or their resting place. To protect the body and resting place of their dead seems to be an important element of their mourning processes.
(More about dogs in mythology and mourning in the "Animal-Human Connection" section.)
Dolphins
Dolphins and Mythology:
“The dolphin has an extraordinarily positive reputation. In myth and legend, the persistent anecdotes, shipwreck victims or other helpless swimmers have been saved from sharks and/or drowning by dolphins. Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, was saved in this way, prompting his father to place dolphin emblem on his shield.
The Greek god most closely associated with dolphins was probably Apollo. Known as Pheobus Apollo, the sun god, he was also called Apollo Delphinos, because he could take on the form of a dolphin; as a result, his famous oracle was called Delphi. The connection brings together the symbolism of the masculine sun god with the feminine significance of water.”
Modern Anecdotes:
"On 6 May 2000, a dead female dolphin was spotted on the seabed,
50 meters from the eastern coast of Mikura Island, near Japan.
Two adult males remained with the body at all times, leaving the body only briefly
to return to the surface to breathe. As the cause of death was unknown, divers
attempted to retrieve the body. However, the presence of the two males prevented
a successful retrieval. Returning the following day in an additional effort to recover the
carcass, the researchers found the same two males guarding the female,
again making recovery impossible. By the third day, the carcass had
disappeared. Researchers assumed that it had simply drifted into deeper
waters.
It’s far from being the only documented instance of
dolphin death rituals. On 20 July 2001, a dead sub-adult male was
spotted on a nearby seabed, wedged between two large boulders, attended
by at least twenty other dolphins, both male and female. As divers
attempted to approach and retrieve the body, groups of one to three male
dolphins displayed aggressive postures, intercepting the swimmers,
though their aggression did not escalate beyond posturing. Like the
African elephants, the attending dolphins nudged and pushed at the
carcass with their beaks and heads, appearing stressed and agitated.
After divers finally retrieved the body, several of the dolphins
continued to swim around the boat until it finally left to return to
port.
And when a dead dolphin calf was spotted by another group of scientists near the
Canary Islands in April 2001, it was also surrounded by several other dolphins, one of
whom was presumed to be the mother. By the third day, the calf was
floating on the surface, and by the fourth day, the calf was started to
show signs of decay. While they did not attempt to recover the body, the
researchers noted that whenever even a seabird attempted to approach
the floating calf, it would immediately be chased away by the other
dolphins.
As this group of dolphins was under continuous human
observation, researchers could be reasonably certain that they were
acting differently than usual. They traveled slower, remaining in the
same general area far longer than was typical. Both of these
observations suggested that they were responding specifically to the
death of the calf. In each case, the attending dolphins worked together
to prevent others from approaching the dead body, sometimes showing
signs of aggression to those who tried. In each case, the attending
dolphins deviated from their typical routines."1
Dolphin mother and calf in July 2012:
"It is a poignant mourning ritual that is rarely seen and even more rarely captured on
camera. Struggling against the rough seas, a dolphin carries her dead baby on
its final journey. While a boat full of tourists watched the heartbreaking
scene, the baby dolphin slipped from its mother’s back five times as she
battled against the tide. But on each occasion, she plucked it from the waves
and continued her lonely voyage. The dolphin was thought to be moving her dead
calf away from the shore to lay it to rest in deeper water. A large gash,
approximately a foot long, was visible across the calf’s belly.
In the past, researchers have observed dolphins carrying or pushing stillborn calves
or those that die in their infancy. They sometimes stay with their dead baby
for several days. Mourning rituals are rare in the animal kingdom, but have
also been observed in whales, elephants, chimps and gorillas. While experts are
reluctant to attribute human emotions to animals, the behavior seems to show
that dolphins have some awareness of mortality – and may even contemplate their
eventual death.
Researcher Joan Gonzalvo, of the Tethys Research Institute in Italy, observed
a similar scene of a mother carrying its dead calf on its back. He
said that the mother seemed unable to accept the death. A year later, he
witnessed a pod of dolphins trying to help a dying calf – lifting it to the
surface and swimming around the sick creature in a frantic and erratic manner.He
said: ‘My hypothesis is that the sick animal was kept company and given
support, and when it died the group had done their job. ‘In this case they had
already assumed death would eventually come – they were prepared.’"2
Video of Dolphin swimming with Deceased Calf:
[Source: 1.Jason G Goldman. "Death Rituals in the Animal Kingdom". (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120919-respect-the-dead)]
2. "In Mourning: Dolphin Photographed Carrying the Broken Body
of Its Baby in Heartbreaking Ritual". (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2174780/In-mourning-Dolphin-photographed-carrying-body-baby-heartbreaking-ritual.html).]
Whales
[Source: Cirlot, J.E. "Whale.” A Dictionary of Symbols. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971. 370. Print.]
Kindred Spirits
“A large pod of orcas swam around a Washington state ferry that was carrying tribal artifacts to a new museum at the ancestral home of Chief Seattle, and some people think it was more than a coincidence.
‘The orcas seemed to be paying close attention and behaving unusually. They were breaching
and tail lobbing as if they were escorting the artifacts back to their ancestral home,’ Garrett says.
Nearly three-dozen orcas surrounded the ferry from Seattle as it approached the terminal
on Bainbridge Island. On board were officials from The Burke Museum in Seattle who were moving ancient artifacts to the Suquamish Museum. The artifacts were dug up nearly 60 years ago from the site of the Old Man House, the winter
village for the Suquamish tribe and home of Chief Sealth, also known as Chief Seattle. Also on board the state ferry was Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman who happened to be returning from an unrelated event. As the ferry
slowed near the terminal, it was surrounded by the orcas, Forsman said Wednesday. ‘They were pretty happily splashing around, flipping their tails in the water,’ he said. ‘We believe they were welcoming the artifacts home as they
made their way back from Seattle, back to the reservation.’ There've been a number of orca sightings throughout
the Puget Sound this week [Oct.13,2013].Garrett says they're feeding on plentiful chum salmon running throughout local
waters.”
[Source: Josh Kerns. MyNorthwest.com. (http://mynorthwest.com/11/2385074/Whale-watchers-mourn-apparent-death-of-80yearold-Puget-Sound-orca)]
Chimpanzees
“Jane Goodall observed Flint, a young chimpanzee, withdraw from his group, stop eating, and die of a broken
heart after the death of his mother, Flo. Here is Goodall's description from her book Through a Window:
‘Nevershall I forget watching as, three days after Flo's death, Flint climbed slowly into a tall tree near the stream. He walked along one of the branches, then stopped and stoodmotionless, staring down at an empty nest. After about two minutes he turned away and, with the movements of an old man, climbed down, walked a few steps, then lay, wide eyes staring ahead. The nest was one which he and Flo had shared a short while before Flo died. . . . in the presence of his big brother [Figan], [Flint] had seemed to shake off a little of his depression. But then he suddenly left the group and raced back to the place where Flo had died and there sank into ever deeper depression. . . . Flint became increasingly lethargic, refused food and, with his immune system thus weakened, fell sick. The last time I saw him alive, he was hollow-eyed, gaunt and utterly depressed, huddled in the vegetation close to where Flo had died... the last short journey he made, pausing to rest every few feet, was to the very place where Flo's body had lain. There he stayed for several hours, sometimes staring and staring into the water. He struggled on a little further, then curled up— and never moved again.’”2
"United in what appears to be deep and profound grief, a phalanx of more than a dozen chimpanzees stood in silence watching from behind the wire of their enclosure as the body of one of their own was wheeled past. This extraordinary scene took place recently at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon, West Africa. When a chimp called Dorothy, who was in her late 40s, died of heart failure, her fellow apes seemed to be stricken by sorrow. As they wrapped their arms around each other in a gesture of solidarity, Dorothy's female keeper gently settled her into the wheelbarrow which carried her to her final resting place - not before giving this much-loved inhabitant of the centre a final affectionate stroke on the forehead.”3
[Source:1 Jason G Goldman. "Death Rituals in the Animal Kingdom". (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120919-respect-the-dead)]
2.Marc Bekoff, “Animal Emotions: Do Animals Think and Feel? Grief in animals: It's arrogant to think we're the only animals who mourn”. Psychology Today. October 2009.(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/200910/grief-in-animals-its-arrogant-think-were-the-only-animals-who-mourn)
3.Michael Hanlon. “Is this haunting picture proof that chimps really DO grieve?” Daily Mail: Mail Online. October 2009.(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1223227/Is-haunting-picture-proof-chimps-really-DO-grieve.html)
How Animals Grieve:
Dr. Barbara King: "Barbara J. King is Chancellor Professor of Anthropology at the College of William & Mary. Dr. King has studied monkeys in Kenya and great apes in various captive settings in Africa and the US. Her research has advanced the thesis that humans and animals have deeper emotional relationships than previously thought...Read more."
In the video below, King briefly discusses animal mourning, grief and emotions and issues of anthropomorphic observations:
Animal Behavior and Emotions:
Dr. Marc Bekoff: "Dr.Marc Bekoff is a former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society and a past Guggenheim Fellow...Marc's main areas of research include animal behavior, cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds), behavioral ecology, and compassionate conservation and he has also published extensively on human-animal interactions and animal protection. He has published more than 800 essays (popular, scientific, and book chapters) and 25 books... Read more"1
The video below briefly discusses the importance of animal emotions, behaviors and communication connections. Bekoff mentions his methodology of his research of animals and bonding with them through
observation and play. He makes a very interesting point about human projection
while observing animal behavior; he states that humans can observe other humans
and guess how they are feeling due to observation of behavior- grief, joy,
depression, anger etc- and although those observations may be wrong sometimes,
they are not to be dismissed because often animals, human and nonhuman, can rely on
observations, past experiences and intuition to “read” another animals.
Dr. Marc Bekoff discusses animal emotions in another video below on the PBS website:
"Studying the Emotional Lives of Animals":
"Dr. Marc Bekoff, former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at
the University of Colorado featured in Animal Odd Couples, talks about
the scientific study of animal emotions, animal friendships, and the
elements of the brain that allow for such bonds to form...See more"2
[Sources:1.http://www.literati.net/authors/marc-bekoff/ 2.(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/animal-odd-couples/video-studying-the-emotional-lives-of-animals/8028/)].
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