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Scientific Method: How Animals Grieve
Steve Culver cries with his dog Otis as he talks about what he said was the, "most terrifying event in his life," when Hurricane Harvey blew in and destroyed most of his home while he and his wife took shelter there on August 26, 2017 in Rockport, Texas. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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If you saw a group of birds gathered around the dead body of one of their own, what would you think they were doing?
What if you saw a mother chimpanzee holding its deceased child for days, even weeks, refusing to relinquish its body?
What about a cat that won’t eat after losing a playmate? Or a dog heaving sobs over its owner’s grave?
According to scientists, the birds, the chimp, the cat and the dog are grieving.
Grief is an experience we all face, including animals. We discuss how animals mourn and what this can teach us about our own relationship to death.
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