Posted on 10/26/2009 11:01:33 PM PDT by Steelfish
Is This Haunting Picture Proof That Chimps Really DO Grieve?
MICHAEL HANLON 27th October 2009
[Pic in URL] United in what appears to be deep and profound grief, a phalanx of more than a dozen chimpanzees stood in silence watching from behind the wire of their enclosure as the body of one of their own was wheeled past.
This extraordinary scene took place recently at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon, West Africa.
When a chimp called Dorothy, who was in her late 40s, died of heart failure, her fellow apes seemed to be stricken by sorrow.
Enlarge Chimpanzees appear to console one another as Dorothy is carried to her final resting place in a wheelbarrow
As they wrapped their arms around each other in a gesture of solidarity, Dorothy's female keeper gently settled her into the wheelbarrow which carried her to her final resting place - not before giving this much-loved inhabitant of the centre a final affectionate stroke on the forehead.
Locals from the village serve as 'care-givers' to the chimps - something hugely needed by the animals who are all orphans as their mothers were killed for the illegal bushmeat trade.
Hunters captured them as young babies, often still clinging to their mother's bodies, to sell as pets.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That “stages of grief” thing is asinine.
Seriously...what if someone dies of a heart attack or in a car accident? Pretty much negates the denial stage since the next stop is the funeral home.
Who are you bargaining with, at that point?
Or are you going to insinuate that we instantly go through the first three stages when faced with a sudden loss? That negates your silly point that animals do not do the same thing.
The stages of grief are talking points for hospice...and total psychobabble.
I think these stages of grief are not true for all humans, and in all circumstances, but they are observed in many when they lose one they love deeply.
Right. When a household member died last month, I didn’t go thru any of that.
I went straight to feeling like a piece of crap. No denial, no anger, no bargaining.
Joya ping
Thank you.
Probably thought it was dinner time. They do eat their own.
Probably thought it was dinner time. They do eat their own.
DaDa!!!! winner !!!!
No disrespect for the Chimps but, it looks to me/ where are they taking her, can go to?
I agree we should not compare animals to humans.
???
So what do they feel when they kill and cannibalize other chimps?
I think what he means, and I’m going to use it as a jumping off spot to my point, is that we all too frequently assume that others have the same motivations we do, when this is not true.
It’s true with different cultures and it’s true with animals. For example, polar bears, with all their fur, tend to look all teddy bear and cute, but they’re very fierce and aggressive predators. It’s common for people to mistake polar bear aggression for curiosity until the claws and the teeth come out.
With human cultures, for example, most of us here on FR view children as precious humans to be protected. In some other cultures, children are viewed as being smaller, easier to beat up, and easier to turn into slaves.
Animals and humans both have complex emotions, but it’s very dangerous to assume these emotions and motivations are the same throughout all cultures and species, although there are commonalities (self-survival, sex drive) among most.
This picture is kind of a mirror. The emotion of the chimps is impossible to truly read, and that’s what makes the picture intriguing. If there was a stalk of bananas in the foreground instead of the dead chimp, we’d read it differently.
What people pick up from this picture says more about them than it does what the chimps were feeling/thinking.
Perhaps the feeling is similar to that humans have when they kill other humans.
They look sad to me. I think animals know about death. When Lilac the old cat was dying my dogs would go to where she was laying & check on her. When we took her to get the shot & she didn’t come back for days they went to her bed & looked for her. I still look around & wonder where she is.
The chimp in that story was more heavily medicated than an over the hill Hollywood actress.
I take no general rules about chimps away from that story.
On what do you base the claim that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was a left winger?
How much “grief” does a chimp feel when it’s ripping your hands, nuts and face off?
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