© Monica Szczupider / National Geographic
Dorothy, a chimpanzee in her late 40s, died of heart failure at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in West Africa, and according to the New York Post, was a respected member of the chimpanzee community there. When her caregiver brought Dorothy's body to her final resting place, the group of apes came to the edge of their enclosure to watch.
National Geographic
All the chimpanzees are orphans whose mothers were killed by hunters for illegal bushmeat, reports the Post. According to the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, "the practice of commercial, illegal and unsustainable hunting is causing widespread local extinctions in Asia and West Africa." Hard to believe hunters can be so cruel and irresponsible, especially after seeing just how "human" these chimpanzees can be.
The photo can be seen in the November issue of National Geographic magazine, on sale now.
Sponsored Links
Advertisement
Can't Miss Galleries
Today's Popular Articles
PetLINENS Pet Bed Giveaway- PetSmart Employee Fired for Bringing Dog to Work
- AKC's Top 10 Most Popular Dogs in the U.S. in 2009
Not only do animals mourn their animal friends and relatives, but humans, as well. We had a dog who was kindly treated by a lovely elderly man, our landlord, When he died, she lay under his bed for days, only leaving to relieve herself. His widow was comforted by this loyal behavior and always talked of it.
i had two cats that i adopted, when one of them died of a mysterious illness, the otherstopped eating, cried if i left him alone in a room and seemed to lose interest in everything. this scared me, so i took him to the vet who told me that he was in mourning and just give him time and a lot of reassurence and he would be fine. took a few weeks, but he snapped backk, however for the rest of the time he lived with me, he stayed as close to me as possible, hardly ever leaving my side. sadly, i had to adopt him out last april when i moved into an assisted living center due to my epilepsy.
My cousin had two English Mastiffs, a male and a female. The female had to be put down because of liver cancer. They buried her under a tree on their farm. Every day the male would go out and lay at her grave for hours. They would actually have to go out and put a leash on him to get him to come inside.
Not only the chimps, but herd animals recognize and mourn. When my 29 year old mare had to be put down and buried the next day, the 12 year old in the pasture with her "stood guard" on her grave for days. I finally had to get a sheep to keep her company so she would not continue to mourn. They then became best friends too.
Is this photo real or a set up to mislead. Jane Goodall lived with Chimps for over two years and during that time Chimps did die. She never observed this kind of behavior so I am skeptical. NG has faked photos before. Was there a pile of bannanas behind the camera?
You must be a real cold hearted jerk...lets hope nobody mourns you when you die
Jane Goodall studied chimps in the wild. In this case these chimps were not "wild" chimps, they were grouped together - most of the chimps were orphans whose mothers were killed by humans - by a totally different circumstance.
If I remember correctly in Jane's book she mentioned a death of a baby and how the mother carried its body around for a time. That is called grief.
I have seen meer cats mourn their dead and I have had pets that seemed depressed when they lost a companion so I am inclined to believe this. I also remember seeing on PBS's nature a band of chimps hunting down and killing another chimp that was cutting through their territory so unfortunetly animals are more like us than I would care to think about.
You are very sad,sad person.You really don't know much about the subject...but you can always learn - if you care.
I would suggest you do a little more research on Jane Goodall........you are wrong
you are a banana
Jane Goodall lived with the chimps for a heckuva lot longer than 2 years.
And I assume, Davon, that you and Jane were confidantes since you know what she did and did not observe? I had 5 small dogs. One was my special pet and the constant companion of one of the older dogs. He had cancer and could not be saved. This was last Feb. and his buddy and I are still very sad about it. Animals are not given enough credit for their feelings.
You must have had a really bad life to be so negative and disbelieving. I can tell you that animals mourn. I saw it first time when my daughters dog stayed with her for 24 hours with her dead. He never left her . He sat at the sliders looking out for more than a year, as if he was expecting her to come up to the front door. She never did. 2 years later, I felt like he had accepted me completely and was now my dog. He saved me emotionally and otherwise. We took rides at sunset, and I would cry, and still do without warning. Yes, animals very definately understand death.
You are the poster child for 'absolute imbecile.' Like hell Jane Goodall did not observe chimpanzees exhibiting grief. You know nothing of the matter on which you speak, ergo, keep your 'mouth' shut (or fingers off the keyboard). A chimp is far more 'human' than a pathetic individual such as yourself.
If there was a pile of bananas it would have been obstructed by the camera crew and the chimps would have been acting batty, not standing there in solute of a dear departed friend. The chaos would have affected the photography and the people trying to focus on the burial.
are you that uneducated ? do you seriously think humans are the only living thing with feelings ? most animals are far more superior than humans, most only kill in self defence and to eat. they don't hoard or display for the fun of it. some animals have a more aggressive nature to them, some laid back, some lazy, mean, funny, and stupid just like humans, Humans are dumb for thinking they are better. all living animals suck at 1 thing and are better at another thing.
people who try so hard to believe photos like these are faked and animals have no feelings and emotions and intelligence are the same people who believe it is okay to have dog fights and who toss litters of kittens out by the side of the road because they have no feelings and it okay to do anything to them and abuse and abandon them as they see fit. It is a cheap excuse to justify animal abuse. People who think like that sicken me and desevre anything bad that happens to them.
I know that animals mourn. After knowing about the soul of humans, I know that I prefer the company of animals.
Ummm...Have you read all of Jane Goodall's research papers. That would be 17 years worth! I am sure that she observed this behavior, because I have seen it in my own animals at home.