I've often considered doing a series of animal funerals, but I haven't gotten around to doing the research yet. This article on the BBC's website about a study in the journal Animal Behavior sites the findings about Blue Jay funerals.
Attaching the word 'funeral' to an action done by animals is tricky because for us, a funeral serves only an emotional purpose, and so, I don't know if that is the best way to describe actions taken post-death in the animal world. It varies by species but, with Blue Jays, the funeral seems to be a cautionary routine to warn that something has killed their own.
But it's easy to understand scientists conundrum when studying animal behavior. The most popular and relatable animal funeral is from elephants. This video by National Geographic outlines the funeral and almost immediately tags it as human emotions. I can't say I disagree, but I do think it's important to be consistent and mention the other animals like geese, sea lions, dolphins, wolves, foxes, gorillas, baboons, llamas, and others that have some version of a 'funeral' with the death of one of their own. And then, to remember that jumbled mix of confusion that comes with the death of a human.
If we say animals have human-like emotions towards death, lets give them the whole range of emotions, not just the ones that we like to awe at.
Oh feelings!
Attaching the word 'funeral' to an action done by animals is tricky because for us, a funeral serves only an emotional purpose, and so, I don't know if that is the best way to describe actions taken post-death in the animal world. It varies by species but, with Blue Jays, the funeral seems to be a cautionary routine to warn that something has killed their own.
But it's easy to understand scientists conundrum when studying animal behavior. The most popular and relatable animal funeral is from elephants. This video by National Geographic outlines the funeral and almost immediately tags it as human emotions. I can't say I disagree, but I do think it's important to be consistent and mention the other animals like geese, sea lions, dolphins, wolves, foxes, gorillas, baboons, llamas, and others that have some version of a 'funeral' with the death of one of their own. And then, to remember that jumbled mix of confusion that comes with the death of a human.
If we say animals have human-like emotions towards death, lets give them the whole range of emotions, not just the ones that we like to awe at.
Oh feelings!
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