Chimps' emotional response to death caught on film

A video of the reaction of chimps to the death of an elderly group mate challenges procedures for dealing with terminally ill animals in captivity

As death scenes go, it has all the poignancy of human loss, but this was no everyday tragedy. The last breath was drawn before scientists' cameras and represents one of the most extraordinary displays of chimpanzee behaviour ever recorded.

Folllow the link to view both the video and articles


www.guardian.co.uk...

reply to post by woodwardjnr


What incredibly poignant videos. They bring to mind the recent photograph of a huddled group of chimps watching their dead friend(?) being carried away by game keepers. Their normal ebulient behaviour was, apparently, completely replaced by a reverend hush.

How anyone can morally deny that these beautiful beings are but a hair's-breadth from us is beyond me.

They laugh, they cry, they use tools, organise, have family units, are capable of an entire plethora of recognisable emotions, perhaps, according to some oservers, have a rudimentary language, and yet we still allow them to be treated like - well - animals.

Old news. Animal emotions have been studied for several years now and with surprising results. Most species seem to have ways of mourning their dead. Even the birds, Theres a case which I was reading not long ago about minor birds standing around a corpse of one of their fellows, then all walked pass it in a single file and flew off. One even came back and left a piece of grass next to the body.

They are so much like us, and we treat them so badly.