When chimps grieve

James Anderson, a psychologist at the University of Stirling, UK, has written about the death of Pansy, the captive, elderly female chimp. After Pansy’s death, her daughter stayed beside her throughout the night. Then members of the chimp group cleaned the corpse and avoided the place where she died. Anderson says these may be “rituals” to cope with death.

On the other hand, he says, “Biro’s results suggest that a period of continued contact after the death of an infant may be important for a mother chimpanzee to adjust psychologically to her loss”.

“Our combined research makes a strong case that chimps not only understand the concept of death but also have ways with which they cope with it,” says Anderson.