Five Questions for Animal-Grief Scholar Barbara J. King
by Gregory McNamee
Humans, Mark Twain once famously observed, are the only animals that blush—or need to. But are we? Animal behaviorists are increasingly learning that traits supposedly reserved to our species, such as the ability to generate language and to make mental maps of our surroundings, are in fact widely shared in the animal world.
Grief over the illness or death of a loved one is another such trait, and there is growing evidence that other species, from cats to dolphins to elephants to chimpanzees, undergo processes of mourning that are similar to—and as heartfelt as—the ones we go through in such difficult times. On that matter, Advocacy for Animals contributor and Encyclopædia Britannica contributing editor Gregory McNamee had this exchange with College of William & Mary anthropology professor Barbara J. King, the author of the recently published book How Animals Grieve.
McNamee: The ability of an animal to grieve suggests at least the possibility that that animal has some concept of death. Do we have any way of knowing whether that is indeed the case?
Barbara J. King: In my work, I separate an animal’s actions and emotional mood, which we can assess and interpret by close observation, from interior mental states like concept formation that are very challenging to evaluate in other species. I don’t know how we’d credibly explore a concept of death in other animals. However, here’s a case study that may offer some hints. As I discuss in more detail in my book How Animals Grieve, there was a recent case of a zoo gorilla named Bobby whose longtime mate, Bebe, died. At first, Bobby tried to revive his friend, even bringing her celery, her favorite food. After a while, however, he apparently grasped that his friend was truly gone, because he let out a wail, banged the cage bars, and abandoned his attempts. Did Bobby in that moment have a concept of death? We don’t know, but his grief was real.
McNamee: Does grief serve a biological function? That is, is it an adaptive behavior—one that presumably functions to further the survival of a species in some way?
King: A strong possibility is that the extra sleep or rest and marked social withdrawal that often accompanies grief—in animals from wild monkeys to domestic cats, dogs, and rabbits just as in humans—allows the brain and body a chance to repair after emotional trauma. After that period of recovery, the survivor may be ready for a new mate or other close relationship, though sadly this doesn’t always happen.
McNamee: Does the ability to show grief require a certain amount of intelligence? We know, for example, that chimpanzees grieve, but what of, say, sea jellies?
King: The study of animal grief is in its infancy, and this is a great question for future research. We need a database of reliable examples and equally so of negative evidence showing which animals don’t mourn. continue reading…