Scientific Method: How Animals Grieve

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.