Chimps Mourn Just Like Christians
Offline Amazing footage shows chimpanzees grieving after death of pack member
- From: NewsCore
- April 27, 2010
CHIMPANZEES grieve over death like christians, a study suggests.
Chimps were filmed grooming and comforting a terminally-ill female in her final hours, The Sun reported.
They also tested for signs of life by checking if the chimp, named Pansy, was breathing.
After the death, three other chimps remained quiet and subdued - and avoided the sleeping spot where the 60-year-old female died.
Behavioural experts studied the footage and said it showed the animals mourn like humans.
Dr. James Anderson, of the University of Stirling, in Scotland, said, "We found several similarities between the chimpanzees' behaviour toward the dying female, and their behaviour after her death, and reactions of humans faced with the demise of an elderly relative."
The footage, filmed at Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park in Stirlingshire, when Pansy fell ill in 2008, is the first study of chimps dealing with a natural death.The apes were seen having a noisy, frenzied response to a sudden death and some mothers were observed carrying the corpses of babies months after their deaths.
Alasdair Gillies, head keeper of chimpanzees and co-author of the study, which is published in the journal Current Biology, said, "It was one of the most moving experiences of my life.
"It looked like they were comforting her by grooming her intently. For weeks afterwards it was uncannily quiet in the enclosure. They were clearly grieving."
http://www.news.com.au/world/amazing-footage-shows-chimpanzees-grieving-after-death-of-pack-member/story-e6frfkyi-1225859070246
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Wow, awesome article.
Oh, and nice headline.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
Great article. My parent's use to breed budgees when I was a kid, I've even seen a budgie (budgies are very smart) mourn dramatically over a loss. My parent's had "Peetou" and "Greedou" (French parents) a male and female pair since long before I was born. They lived together in their cage for over a decade. When I was about 8 the female got sick for a few months and then died. The part above the males beek starting turning dark grey, he wouldn't move, or eat, or do anything until he died aswell about a week later. He was eating and behaving fine the week before and his colours were vibrant. I remember this very clearly, it was undeniable it was to stressful for him that his lifemate was gone. This was the only 2 that were kept together from birth, the others were sold and moved and bread etc... Others died of old age in the cage with non-life mates and this behavior was not exibitted.
How exactly do Christians grieve differently from the rest of homo sapiens? What a terrible headline! But beside that, fascinating article. I think it confirms what many of us have long suspected.The original headline said 'humans' but I wanted to make it a little more pointy, since it's the godly who are too good for the monkey brethren.
Coincidentally, ScienceDaily has more at the link below.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426131426.htm
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
This thread gets the antitheist's "Aw shit!" Award of the Year.
No srsly... this kinda stuff creates soiled undergarments in the dirty laundry of theists.
Good find, AE
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