Course:CONS200/2024WT1/Animal funerals: How different animal species mourn their dead

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Introduction

Animal mourning is defined by contemporary scientists as happening when two or more animals spend time together for more than survival purposes (foraging, mating, defence, etc) and then when one animal dies the survivor(s) alter their normal routines and behaviour. [1] This could include eating and sleeping less, adopting sullen body language or generally failing to thrive compared to before the death occurred. [1]

Scientific understanding of death related behaviours in animals is still relatively new, however, there is already evidence that animals not only mourn death but also have particular funeral practices for how to care for and dispose of their dead.[2] Funeral practices can be seen in species very closely related to humans such as primates but also more distant species such as elephants and scrub jays. [3] The presence of funeral arrangements and mourning in animals are important evidence in the sentience of animals and their ability to suffer in the face of death. The ability of humans to distinguish themselves from animals on the basis of sentience and specifically on the basis of sentience around death have been important parts of justifying practices like animal agriculture that are intensely harmful to animals and devastating to the environment. [4]

Western Beliefs about Animal Sentience

Renaissance

Portrait of René Descartes by Frans Hals

While during the Renaissance there were some thinkers in more secular circles such as Erasmus, Thomas More and Kevin Bacon who had begun to accept animals as sentient being, the prevailing beliefs of the Renaissance came from the philosopher Renee Descartes.[5] Descartes believed in a separation, a dualism between the mind and the body where the mind is what makes a person sentient and the body is simply what executes the goals of the mind.[6] For Descartes, animals lacked any features of the mind, they are only body and thus any signs of pain or suffering are unconscious emotions that animals do not actually have the capacity to feel. [6] As a result of his belief in animals as non-sentient beings Descartes is engaged in cruel forms of experimentation on animals such as vivisection.[5]

Enlightenment

During the Enlightenment a belief in the unconsciousness of animals had fallen out of favour with thinkers like Bentham, Hume specifically arguing that an animal's ability to suffer and express suffering is evidence of their sentience. [5] These arguments culminated in Charles Darwin whose studies of evolution led him to the conclusion that if humans and animals have evolved physically in such similar ways they may have also evolved similarly emotionally. [7] This popularized the scientific perspective on emotions present in Herbert Springer's work where he describes emotions as another set of adaptations to natural selection, just as likely to appear in animal evolution as they are in humans.[5]

Behaviourism

Despite the growing acceptance of animal sentience following the enlightenment, the first 70 years of the 20th century science largely left this consideration for animal emotionality behind with the rise of behaviouralism. [5] Behaviouralism was founded by John Broadus Watson who sought to refocus science by removing any consideration for the subjective concepts of perception, desire and emotion which he concluded were unknowable.[5] Watson argued that instead scientists should focus on studying purely empirically observable phenomena.[5] This largely scrubbed discussions of the emotional capacity of animals from science and consequently removed considerations of animals' feeling of suffering and despair from systems in society that directly impact their well being.[5] The side-stepping of animal suffering in scientific study has only recently begun to be addressed, with discussions of sentience resurging after the publication of works such as Ruth Harrison's Animal Machines in 1964 which addresses the cruelty of the animal production industry raising animal as machines to be slaughtered for parts.[8] In this book Harrison argues that this cruelty is wrong not just becase it inflicts intense suffering on animals but because animals are sentient and experience death.[5] This alongside general advancements in science during the time has lead to intensified study of animals and their awareness of death in the past forty years.[5]

Overview of Observed Occurrences

Elephants

Elephants are known to be one of the most emotionally intelligent animals on planet Earth [9]. Elephants form a strong-lasting relationship with each other for decades. There are different types of relationships between their population, each with different bond strengths[5]. Such a complex social relationship is structured through fission and fusion dynamics based on continuously strengthened interactions with their preferred companions[5].

African savannah elephants’ social structure is based on the frequency of how strongly bonded core groups interact with less closely affiliated bond and clan groups[5]. Elephants have the ability to recognize an array of individuals of their species, which is crucial due to the complexity of the fluctuating relationships they maintain[5].

In the research by Goldenberg and Wittemyer, they focus on the interactions of elephants around a dead matriarch in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya in 2013.

Observations of how elephants behave when encountered with dead elephants in the Samburu Reserve, northern Kenya involved approaches, touching, and investigative responses[5]. Such behaviours are exhibited at various stages of decomposition, from fresh carcasses to scattered bones. Furthermore, research demonstrated that when elephants visit or revisit carcasses, they present investigative behaviour, stationary behaviour, self-directed behaviour, temporal gland streaming, and heightened social interactions with other elephants in the area[5]. The elephants are still broadly interested in the carcass, regardless of whether they had a close relationship. This behaviour is a way for the elephants to understand how the social context has changed in their fission-fusion society.[5]

Birds

Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia) Pica nuttalli 254607090.jpgYellow-billed Magpies (Pica nuttalli)
Magpies

Early research in the 1980s exploring the possibility of ceremonies in other species included observations of Black-billed Magpies(Pica hudsonia) gathering at the site of a dead conspecific[10]. In one case, an individual appeared to have died in flight, and within 5 minutes 13-14 others came and gathered around the dead individual[10]. The flock stayed around the carcass acting in a non-aggressive way, for around 5 minutes before departing[10]. This observation, being within 24 hours of the death, was consistent with gatherings that have been referred to as ‘ceremonial’, where the surviving member of the dead individual’s pair may leave the gathering with a new mate[10]. A more dramatic example was observed in Yellow-billed Magpies (Pica nuttalli), where other magpies gathered around the site where a hawk had just killed a magpie, vocalizing while observing the hawk eating it[11]. Afterwards, the magpies approached the remains of the dead bird, picked up feathers and stuck them in the trees. All the magpies left after 15-20 minutes, except the dead bird's mate, who proceeded to take a feather and carry it around for several days afterwards[11].

Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Scrub Jays

Western Scrub Jays (Aphelocoma californica), upon discovering a dead conspecific, give long range vocalization signals to others leading to a cacophonous aggregation[12]. This reaction was provoked when presented with a prostate jay, while a jay-skin mounted upright was reacted to with aggression, instead being treated as alive[12]. The cacophonous aggregation is speculated to be used for sharing information among conspecifics of elevated risk in the vicinity, as after the aggregation a decrease in foraging is observed in that area[12].

Mallard Ducks

Barbara King, a former professor in the Department of Anthropology at College of William & Mary focused her work on cognition and emotional capacity in other animals[7]. In How Animals Grieve, she compiled case studies of individual examples of animals responding to death[7]. One of these cases studied two Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus x Cairina moschata domestica) who were brought to a sanctuary after being rescued from the foie gras industry, from which they were in poor physical condition[7]. They became inseparable four years they were at the sanctuary, and when the health of one deteriorated, the sanctuary staff performed his euthanasia in view of the other to let him know what was going on[7]. After staying with the body for hours, the surviving duck displayed nervousness around people, and didn't bond with another duck before dying two months afterwards[7]. This fits the measures used for recognizing the presence of grief, defined by significant changes in behaviours of the survivor, such as socializing, eating, sleeping, and emotional expression, lasting for hours, days, or weeks after the death of another individual they displayed a relationship to[7].

Primates

Researchers sequenced the chimpanzee genome and found that humans share approximately 98.8% of their DNA with chimpanzees. This genetic similarity supports the idea that many behavioural and emotional traits in great apes may mirror those in humans due to common ancestry.[13] Jane Goodall (1990) famously recounted the life-sapping grief of chimpanzee Flint at his mother Flo's death in1972, at Gombe Stream in Tanzania. In the intervening forty years, evidence has accumulated for emotional responses to death in other wild chimpanzee groups.[14]

James R. Anderson reviews how the apes respond to cues related to dying and death at long term chimpanzee study sites and found out that chimpanzee group members' responses to the corpses were highly similar. Mothers carried the bodies during all travel (typically by gripping a limb in hand, foot, or between shoulder and neck), groomed them regularly, and chased away flies that circled the corpses (twice with the aid of a tool; Supplemental Movie S1). These are all behaviours that may have facilitated mummification. chimpanzee responses to conspecific deaths are highly variable and include frenzied excitement, loud vocalizations, displaying, attacking and rough treatment of the body, consuming it, tending it carefully, sitting quietly and looking at it, making soft vocalizations before abandoning it and, especially in the case of deaths of unknown cause, partly covering it with vegetation. Some individuals have been seen to return to where they last saw the body of a familiar conspecific. Systematic comparisons of reactions across communities remain to be conducted. Like many other behaviours, responses to death might show cultural variations .[15]

Van Leeuwen and Edwin J.C. from Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust (Chimfunshi), a chimpanzee sanctuary accredited by the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) suggest that chimpanzees' responses to death may be mediated by social bonds with the deceased individual. They observed the reaction of a group of chimpanzees to finding the dead body of a 9-year-old male group member. The behaviour of the group was characterized by quiet attendance and close inspections punctuated by rare displays. Moreover, the body was continuously attended and closely inspected by several adults and juveniles, including an adult male who formed a close social bond with the deceased individual after the deceased individual's mother died 4 years earlier.[16]

Among chimpanzees, traumatic deaths (e.g., predation events, lethal accidents) have been described to elicit agitated responses of loud alarm calling and aggressive displays[17] , while the demise of a sick and elderly female induced a more subdued response.[18] In gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelada) a nulliparous adult female was observed carrying and repeatedly grooming a dead infant from a different social group.[19]

Criticisms and Controversies

There have been criticisms of the works such as How Animals Grieve for starting out with the assumption that other animals do experience grief, and for not being truly scholarly work due to lack of sufficient data[11]. The difficulty of this question lies in fact that measuring pain and grief is inherently subjective[11].

Social Implications

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Conclusion

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References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 King, B. J. (2013). When Animals Mourn. Scientific American, 309(1), 62–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26017823
  2. ↑ Pierce, J. (2013). The dying animal. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 10(4), 469–478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9480-5
  3. ↑ Goldenberg, S. Z., & Wittemyer, G. (2019). Elephant behavior toward the dead: A review and insights from field observations. Primates, 61(1), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-019-00766-5; Miller, W. R., & Brigham, R. M. (1988). “Ceremonial” Gathering of Black-Billed Magpies (Pica pica) after the Sudden Death of a Conspecific. The Murrelet, 69(3), 78–79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3534036; Pierce, J. (2013). The dying animal. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 10(4), 469–478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9480-5
  4. ↑ Fonseca, R. P., & Sanchez-Sabate, R. (2022). Consumers’ Attitudes towards Animal Suffering: A Systematic Review on Awareness, Willingness and Dietary Change. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23), 16372. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316372
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 Duncan, I. J. (2006). The changing concept of animal sentience. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 100(1–2), 11–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.011 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":2" defined multiple times with different content
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Plumwood, V. (2002). Chapter 4: Descartes and the Dream of Power. In Feminism and the Mastery of Nature (pp. 104–119). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203006757
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 King, Barbara J. (2013). "Animal mourning: Précis of How animals grieve". Animal Sentience. 1 – via WellBeing International.
  8. ↑ Broom, D. M. (2011). A history of animal welfare science. Acta Biotheoretica, 59(2), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-011-9123-3
  9. ↑ Roy, S (2023). "The emotional intelligence of different animals". Wildlife SOS.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Miller, W.R.; Brigham, R. M. (1988). ""Ceremonial" Gathering of Black-Billed Magpies (Pica pica) after the Sudden Death of a Conspecific". The Murrelet. 69: 78–79 – via JSTOR.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Pierotti, Raymond; Annett, Cynthia (2014). "Review: We Probably Thought That Would Be True: Perceiving Complex Emotional States in Nonhumans". Ethnobiology Letters. 5: 15–21 – via JSTOR.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Iglesias, T. L.; McElreath, R.; Patricelli, G. L. (2012). "Western scrub-jay funerals: cacophonous aggregations in response to dead conspecifics". Animal Behaviour. 85: 1103–1111 – via Science Direct.
  13. ↑ Mikkelsen, T.S. (2005). "Initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome and comparison with the human genome". Nature.
  14. ↑ King, Barbara J. (2013). Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader. Antonius C. G. M. Robben. pp. 202~207.
  15. ↑ Anderson, James R. (16 July 2018). "Chimpanzees and Death". Royal Society.
  16. ↑ Edwin, J.C. (09 May 2016). "Chimpanzees' responses to the dead body of a 9-year-old group member". American journal of primatology. 78. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ↑ Teleki, Geza (1973). Group responses to the accidental death of a chimpanzee in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Folia Primatologica. pp. 81~94.
  18. ↑ Anderson, James R. (April 27, 2010). "Pan thanatology". Elsevier Inc. 20.
  19. ↑ Fashing, Peter J. (06 December 2010). "Death among geladas (Theropithecus gelada): a broader perspective on mummified infants and primate thanatology". American journal of primatology. 73. Check date values in: |date= (help)


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