5 Incredibly Heartbreaking Examples of Animals Grieving

There has been much discussion over the years, as to whether animals can really feel emotion or not. After much debate, a majority of scientists came to the conclusion that animals did indeed show signs of emotion and express that emotion uniquely. Some examples of this behavior include a gorilla not letting go of her dead baby, to a gorilla name Koko who mourned the loss of her kitten, and pigs indicating emotion through body language.

As social beings, animals also form relationships with their family members and bond with each other. There are countless stories of animals exhibiting signs of grief. Some examples include elephants touching the bones or bodies of their dead with their trunks, dolphins carrying their dead upon their backs, dogs mourning their owners, and even a bird who tries to wake his dead mate. Below are five examples of heartbreaking grief shown by some animal species:

1. Elephant Calf Refuses to Leave Dead Mother’s Side

This little five-month-old calf was discovered by the side of his dead mother (who died of natural causes) in Samburu in Northern Kenya. The baby had already stayed by her side for hours, when staff from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust came to rescue him at day break. The calf was tranquilized at day break named Sokotei by the elephant orphanage’s staff.

Sokotei was initially very exhausted when he first arrived at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and suffered from an upset stomach. But after expert care from the keepers and socialization with several of the other calves housed at the Trust, he is able to run around. His personality has really started to show through and he is apparently quite the greedy little elephant who refuses to share his food! Check out Sokotei’s rescue profile here, to know more about him!

2. Penguin Grieves Baby

Emperor Penguins fathers and mothers are known to carry their hatched chicks or eggs on their feet. This is because if the egg ever touches the ice, or if the hatched baby touches the ice in the first two months of its life, it will freeze. Male Emperor penguins often become so attached to their eggs that when the female penguin returns in the Spring he has trouble giving it to her.

Penguins and chicks recognize each other by their unique voices, and the parents will take turns staying with the chick while one of them hunts for food. As shown in the documentary “March of the Penguins,” a female penguin will sometimes steal the chick of another if she has lost her own – this may be due to the high level of parental hormones in their bodies.

This hard-to-watch segment from a penguin documentary is of a mother Emperor penguin who attempts to shelter and wake her dead, frozen baby. One can hear her cries of distress as she attempts to do so in vain.

3. Dog Mourns Loss of Beaver Friend

The dog in the above video can be heard whimpering and resting its head on the body if its beaver friend “Beavis.” According to the dog Bella’s owners, she was outside for hours, mourning the friend she used to play with every day.

When he was alive, Beavis would visit as he pleased, and the two would share living quarters and played ball together. Bella never shared her food with any other dog, but did so with her beaver friend. Around two months after Beavis’ passing, Bella had a litter of puppies.

4. Dolphin Funeral Procession

Dolphins are well-known for having strong family bonds. They also have been seen to help individuals in distress by remaining by their side and slowing down their travelling pace. This group for example, formed themselves into a life raft to Support one of their own who was sick and needed to breathe. There are also stories of dolphins helping other species, such as that of a group of dolphins who helped a seal pup find her way through strong water currents. Thus, their apathy towards other species as well as towards their own kind suggest that they are altruistic beings.

Tourists on board a sight-seeing boat for example, saw this behavior close up. They captured this rare and upsetting footage in California, which shows a dolphin mother carrying the decayed body of her calf on her back. A number of other dolphins surround the two as if to guard them. The level of decay suggested that the baby had been dead for a few days.

Dolphin calves stay with their mothers for three to eight years and this time and nurse for as long as two years. The mother-calf bond is so strong that should a calf be still-born, the mother will carry the body at the surface of the water.

 5. Cows Mourn the Loss of Their Calves

The practice of taking away calves from their mothers is a common practice in the dairy industry. In order to maximize milk production, babies are taken away from their mothers just hours after birth and confined in small wooden boxes while their mothers are milked. While the females are kept alive and raised to replace their mothers are milk-producers, the males are sold off to be culled for veal or beef.

Four residents in Newbury, Massachusetts made calls to the police after hearing “inhuman” cries coming from an area around a dairy farm nearby. It turns out that these cries were coming from dairy cows whose calves had been taken away from them. The police later said that the noises were just “a normal part of dairy practices.”

Easy Ways to Help Animals:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals, and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks or browse through vegan recipes on One Green Planet.
• Adopt-a-Pet: Visit WildWatchers, a watchdog platform specifically designed for animal, earth, and wildlife warriors to actively give back, rescue, and protect animals and the planet.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!