PIG-LIKE animals called peccaries have been seen apparently mourning their dead. The discovery adds to the growing list of species that have exhibited signs of grief. It came from a science fair project.
are hoofed mammals found in the Americas. Also known as javelinas or skunk pigs, they resemble . However, the two actually belong to different, albeit closely related, families. Peccaries are social animals and often live in groups.
In January, 8-year-old Dante de Kort was watching a herd of five collared peccaries () behind his house in Arizona. One of them seemed to be ill. The next day, he found a dead adult female and the rest of the herd nearby.
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鈥淚t is heartbreaking to see two peccaries trying to pick up the dead one, as if they wanted to help it鈥�
Dante was intrigued, and he had a school science fair coming up. So on the third day after the animal鈥檚 death, he approached the body 鈥� now up a hill from the house, where it had been moved because of the smell 鈥� and set up a camera trap. Whenever an animal approached the body, the motion-sensitive camera took a video.
Dante captured footage over the next two weeks and put his findings onto a poster. At the regional science fair, his poster caught the attention of at the nearby Prescott College. Altrichter is co-chair of the at the International Union for Conservation of Nature. She left Dante a note asking to talk.
Altrichter met with Dante and his mother, and told them his findings might be a big deal. 鈥淭hey were very excited, and from then on I took on the project,鈥� says Altrichter. 鈥淚 watched all the 100 videos he had taken.鈥� The work has now been published, with Dante listed as first author (, ).
In the days after the peccary鈥檚 death, the other members of her herd visited her body repeatedly, usually alone or in pairs.
Sometimes they simply walked or stood near her. 鈥淥ther activities included pushing at the dead individual, nuzzling it, smelling it, staring at it, biting it, and trying to pick it up by putting their snout under the corpse and pushing it up,鈥� the authors write. Sometimes, the other peccaries slept next to the body or snuggled up against it.
鈥淚t is heartbreaking to observe two [peccaries] trying to pick up the dead one, as if they wanted to help it to get up,鈥� says Altrichter. 鈥淭he herd reacted in a way that resembles mourning and grieving.鈥�
The peccaries visited the corpse after it was moved up the hill, showing that they weren鈥檛 just returning to the locale.
On the 10th day after the peccary died, a group of coyotes approached. The other peccaries repeatedly chased them off. But later that night, the coyotes returned and ate the remains.
鈥淭he behaviours observed in the surviving peccaries are quite fascinating,鈥� says at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, author of the 2013 book . She says the peccaries鈥� responses to death were similar to those of chimps, elephants and cetaceans. While the study of animal grief is new, King says researchers have seen responses to death among monkeys, pair-bonded birds and various pets and farm animals.
Behaviours that resemble mourning might help animals recover from a loss before making new social bonds. However, just because these responses are widespread doesn鈥檛 mean they have an evolutionary benefit. King says they may just be 鈥渁n emotional by-product of friendship or love鈥�.
When the peccaries pushed, nuzzled or bit the body of the dead female, they may have been trying to revive her, says King. And they may have been expressing curiosity by staring at the dead body, or possessiveness by defending it against coyotes, she says. When they slept touching the body, and refused to abandon it for over a week, they may have been displaying grief, King says.
鈥淲e know that many social animals have profound social relationships with other individuals,鈥� says King. 鈥淚ndividuals may feel it deeply, and visibly express those feelings, when the bonds are broken.鈥�
Natural Grief
Michael Marshall
Many animals behave in ways that suggest they are grieving.
African elephants get agitated if they find a dead member of their species. They even look at the skulls and ivory of long-dead elephants.
Chimpanzees will sit with the body of a newly deceased troupe member. They have been seen subsequently avoiding the place where the animal died. Females sometimes carry the mummified bodies of dead offspring for days or weeks. Chimps have also been seen cleaning corpses. A study from March, for instance, described a chimp cleaning the teeth of a fallen comrade using a firm stem of grass.
Several monkey species also respond to death. In one case, a female snub-nosed monkey fell and cracked her head on a rock, and her partner spent an hour tenderly touching her until she died.
Bottlenose dolphins have been seen carrying the bodies of dead infants, sometimes lifting them to the surface of the water as if helping them to breathe.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淕rief is not just for the clever鈥�
