At the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, chimpanzees form a gallery of grief, looking on as Dorothy--a beloved female felled in her late 40s by heart failure--is borne to her burial.
Image: National Geographic / Monica Szczupider
The Prancing Papio has brought attention to this powerful photograph presented by National Geographic showing chimpanzees focused on the body of a recently deceased member of their community. I still remember the powerful effect it had on me when I saw Jane Goodall's The People of the Forest which showed how one young male, who was fully capable of taking care of himself, was so distraught by his mother's death that he refused to leave his nest for days and eventually died. It was a clear example of the power that mourning had over our evolutionary cousins.
As The Daily Mail reported about the photograph:
Until recently, describing scenes such as this in terms of human emotions such as "grief" would have been dismissed by scientists as naive anthropomorphising. But a growing body of evidence has suggested that "higher" emotions - such as grieving for a loved one and even a deep understanding of what death is - may not just be the preserve of our species.Chimpanzees - as revealed in November's National Geographic magazine - and closely related bonobos maintain hugely complex social networks, largely held together by sex and grooming. They have often been observed apparently grieving for lost family and tribe members by entering a period of quiet mourning, showing subdued emotions and behaviour.
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Comments
Maybe Nat Geo hid a banana under the dead chimp, and *that*'s what gave them their shot?
Posted by: Vince Whirlwind | October 29, 2009 5:23 PM
@vince
You sir, are a street rat.
Posted by: john gathly | October 30, 2009 7:39 AM
animals have feelings to. what a shame sooooo many people in this world will never know the love of an animal. their loss.
Posted by: blue girl | October 30, 2009 4:39 PM
I expect the chimpanzee group was given an oppurtunity to mourn the death of their friend in their own way? I wonder how they expressed it.
Posted by: Gopal | October 31, 2009 10:51 PM
I agree with you sir, but at the same time feel sorry for the rats.
Posted by: Sid | November 1, 2009 4:42 AM
The emotional attachment in humans is no more linear than in lower primates; the closer psychologically that two primates, or humanoids, are the more they will grieve. In the photograph of Dorothy, the interest may have been accentuated by the attention the human is giving to her dead body. Good work, it inspires people to think, their comments are like icebergs, a tiny view of the way the contributor views their world.
Posted by: Merlin DuVall | November 1, 2009 9:03 AM
@Vince
People like you sir, need to learn from this animals,I feel sorry for you.
Posted by: Ernesto | November 1, 2009 1:27 PM
What a powerful photograph. The image says it all. Thank you for posting.
Posted by: Rebecca Sherman | November 4, 2009 5:33 PM
Maybe Nat Geo hid a banana under the dead chimp, and *that*'s what gave them their shot? - Posted by: Vince Whirlwind
Maybe you are nuts.
Posted by: Skeptigirl | November 6, 2009 2:19 AM