Grief in Nonhuman Animals

Infant macaque with mother. Senthi Aathavan Senthilverl/Wikimedia Commons.

According to a new study, some primate mothers appear to express grief over the death of an infant by carrying the corpse with them, sometimes for days or weeks. In the largest study of its kind, researchers from University College London compiled data from anecdotes reported in 126 scientific publications in order to quantitatively analyze infant corpse carrying behavior among primate species. The findings have implications for our understanding of how other animals experience emotion and even for the evolution of human practices around death and mourning.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Why Do Some Primate Mothers Carry Their Dead Infants?