Do Animals Understand Death?

I read a fascinating article this morning about if and how animals understand death. I’ve always wondered about it, especially since I’ve heard so many stories about how animals often seem to understand things we don’t.

For instance–a group of elephants made a 12 hour trek to visit a dying man who had saved them. And now, years after his death, they continue to visit his home and hold a vigil for him.

When I was writing my book Unspoken, about a gorilla who speaks sign language, I was fascinated by the subject of animal emotions–how much do they feel, how deep are their bonds, etc. I made sure that the gorilla in my story didn’t do anything that Koko, the real gorilla who spoke sign language, hadn’t been capable of doing. I remember one man teasing me and saying that animals don’t have emotions, but boy, do I beg to differ. All you have to do is look at a dog when you chastise him, and you know he’s feeling sorry. He may not know WHY you’re chastising him (I don’t think dogs speak fluent English, though they certainly know many words), but he knows he’s supposed to feel bad.

When it comes to animals and their understanding of death, Susana Monsó proposes that “only two components suffice for what she calls a ‘minimal concept of death’: irreversibility and non-functionality. To recognize that an animal no longer does what they used to, and realize that this state is permanent, is the essence of understanding death. It is at once simple and profound, and the cognitive requirements are basic.” So yes, animals can understand when one of their own has died. And death has repercussions in animal and human life.  

Many of us have seen dogs mourn a missing owner. Watch the film Hachiko, if you doubt it (based on a true story). And geese and swans, who mate for life, grieve their missing partners.

Elephants have even been known to bury their dead. Before reading this article, I had heard of elephant graveyards, but the following startled me: “Five accounts of elephant calves found buried in tea plantation irrigation ditches, with their legs above ground and pointed toward the sky. The soil around them was patted level. Footsteps and dung deposits showed that the burials were performed by the calves’ herds.

“The burials took place at night. Nearby villagers heard loud trumpeting but none witnessed the events. Later autopsies showed the calves were in poor health and died of natural causes, not from drowning in the ditches. Bruise patterns on their bodies suggested they were carried long distances by their legs and trunks. A camera trap snapped a picture of two elephants walking together, one dragging the tiny figure of a calf by her trunk across a plantation’s red earth.”

I believe animals understand far more than we give them credit for understanding . . . because we are at the top of the created earthly kingdom. But even the Bible says,

“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
    Let the fish in the sea speak to you.” (Job 12:7-8).

Humans have a deeper understanding of death than animals–we consider its permanence, the afterlife, and so many things that animals probably don’t consider. But they do grasp the concept. And one day, when we interact with the animals in heaven (of course they’ll be there! Jesus comes back on a white horse, remember?) we may understand exactly how much more they knew . . .

Blessings on your week! Give your animal pals a hug today!

Angie