[MUSIC]
This episode was sponsored by Dropbox.
A murder of crows, an appropriate name, considering these birds' special relationship with death
It's not because they're killers, or because they'll sometimes scavenge the bodies of the recently departed.
When one of their own dies, crows will surround and call to the dead. In one experiment, scientists
holding taxidermied birds approached crows and were viciously attacked. Of course, the
creepy masks didn’t help. Crows hold funerals, which also explains
the black clothing.
We also congregate around those we’ve lost, to remember them, and to console each other
in times of sadness and in grief.
But are we the only creatures who experience these emotions?
Do animals mourn their dead?
[MUSIC]
Dying is a fact of life, it's true for everything that’s ever been born, and it’s not a
pretty thought.
After you die, your cells burst open, insects lay eggs in your body, and bacteria turn you
into a putrefaction soup.
Thanks Anna, that was gross. Being intelligent means that we understand a lot about how death
happens. Not to mention, the fact that it will happen to us.
Thinking about mortality can influence our behavior. Humans are curious, anxious, even
frightened about death. A side effect of our intelligence is that we can picture the future,
and ourselves and our loved ones won’t be part of it.
Well that's a cheery thought, Vanessa.
For a long time, scientists assumed that grief was unique to humans, but observing certain
animals is making us think again.
Eleanor was an elephant. Sick and injured, she fell behind her herd, and collapsed. Scientists
watched as another elephant named Grace ran to her side, and tried to lift her up.
Sadly, she couldn't. Eleanor died.
Over the next several days, her body was visited by five different groups of elephants, some
completely unrelated to her. They circled the body, caressing it with their feet and
trunks, never out of sight even when lions and hyenas moved in.
That's a sad story, to us, anyway. Scientists agree that animals have emotions, but
forcing human experiences upon them is anthropomorphism. When elephants and crows hold funerals are
we forcing human emotions onto the lives of animals? Or are they truly experiencing grief?
Animal researcher Barbara J. King says that grief is a change in an animals behavior in
response to death. They might shift their daily routines, adopt different body language, eat
or sleep less, or even put themselves in greater danger to predators.
It seems that the elephants were grieving.
Other intelligent animals experience grief in similar ways. Entire troops of chimpanzees
will gather around and protect their dead, mothers will even carry lifeless infants around for
days or weeks.
Scientists also noticed a group of dolphins gathered around a dead calf, refusing to eat
for days, guarding the body even after it started to decay.
Many scientists are now certain that grieving isn’t something that we do and animals don’t,
it’s just that ours is more complex.
There are many things that humans do that are unique among animals, but many things
aren’t. Projecting our emotions onto other creatures is a bad habit, but we can be sure
that animals have emotions of their own.
These animals are deeply moved by grief. Some, like the crows, may use death rituals to learn
about death, but for others there seems to be something more.
Many animals are social, they develop relationships and experience positive emotions from their
families and friends. Maybe not happiness, or love… but something.
Animal mourning may stem from those memories, from realizing what is missing, and we can
all relate to that.
Stay curious.
Follow me over the BrainCraft to find out some surprising ways that death can affect the
minds of the living.
And, assuming you haven't eaten recently, join me over on Gross Science and we'll find
out how some of life's tiniest critters can crack open big mysteries about death.
This episode was sponsored by Dropbox. No matter what you create. Whether you write
it, draw it, mix it or test it, Dropbox makes it simple to work the way that you want. That's
why over 400 million people around the world use Dropbox to work together on any file with
anyone from anywhere. Dropbox, all yours.