When animals lose a loved one, do they mourn like humans? The stories below prove that they do. While animals and humans are profoundly different, they also grieve in very similar ways.
A heartbreaking video of a baby monkey crying over its dead mother has been circulating on the internet since 2017. The mother was tragically hit by a speeding car while crossing the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka National highway in Elathur, Southern India.
The video shows the little chimp trying to wake his fallen mother, but to no avail. Seeing that she does not move, the heartbroken baby lies in the road, clinging to her with grief. In another moment, the tiny ape appears to put its ear to the mom’s chest as if to check a heartbeat. Realizing that she has died, the baby monkey then starts to cry. Villagers look on as the grief-stricken primate clasps its fallen mother’s body in desperation, trying to revive her.
Police held the little baby back as villagers and animal services carried the body for burial. The baby then followed as villagers performed last rites for the fallen primate to be cremated.
Touched by the moving scenes, some villagers couldn’t help but break down in tears. “They managed to keep the baby monkey away from the body, but the baby kept jumping around and continued weeping,” one of the villagers said. Another described: “The baby monkey jumped from one tree to another tree and followed us when we carried the carcass.”
The young primate wept in agony as it realized its mother had passed away. The little chimp’s display of devotion for its dead mom truly breaks our hearts.
In another heart-wrenching video uploaded to Twitter by Parveen Kaswan, a forest ranger in the Indian Foreign Service, on June 7, 2019, a herd of elephants is seen conducting a funeral for a deceased calf.
The footage shows an adult elephant emerging from dense woodland, carrying the lifeless body of a dead calf with its trunk. The large mammal lays the dead baby on the side of a road. It then takes a few steps back, seemingly observing a moment of silence for the deceased calf. Moments later, the rest of the herd slowly emerges to join in the solemn funeral procession before heading back into the forest with the body of the dead calf.
These touching scenes serve to remind us that we should have compassion toward all living creatures, as humans aren’t the only ones who mourn over the passing of those they love.
