Ingham’s WORLD
KILLER whales, those black-and-white masters of the ocean, sound pretty brutal. But, as the Daily Express revealed this week, they have a softer side. Last month a killer whale gave birth to a calf that died soon afterwards. But mother love knows no bounds so she refused to give up. She kept the lifeless baby afloat for 17 days, pushing it with her head across 1,000 miles of sea just south of Vancouver, clearly hoping it would wake up, before finally giving up the ghost and rejoining her pod. She touched the hearts of observers, astonished that an animal could so clearly grieve for an offspring.
But mourning is far from the preserve of humans and orcas. Grief has been recorded in animals as diverse as chimps and dolphins, geese and magpies, elephants and gorillas.
When my labrador Lucy died last year just short of her 17th birthday, it wasn’t just my family and I who were upset. So was Inca, our other labrador, who had never known life without Lucy.
For a week afterwards Inca was very subdued, clearly confused by the single life. When she got back to her old self, one thing had changed. Lucy had always been wilful and Inca obedient but now Inca started to pick and choose whether to come when called.
The emotional lives of other creatures were highlighted by Psychology Today which cited Nobel prizewinner Konrad Lorenz. He said greylag geese that lose a partner show all the symptoms of grief: “The eyes sink deep into their sockets and the individual has an overall drooping experience, literally letting the head hang.”
Wolves that lose a pack member will for a time stop being playful and drop their tails – usually a sign of submission – while mother sea lions wail when they see their pups taken by killer whales.
Elephant expert Cynthia Moss told how the shooting of one tusker plunged the rest of the herd into “frantic” behaviour. They tried to lift their dead friend with their tusks and even fed her by putting grass in her limp mouth.
Magpies have been seen trying to revive a dead comrade and, when this failed, exploding into a chorus of staccato chatter.
One chimpanzee Flint even died of a broken heart after its mother Flo passed away, according to eco-icon Jane Goodall.
She watched the youngster sink into a deep depression, withdraw from the group, stop eating, become ill and eventually curl up and die near where Flo’s body had lain.
Animals may not be able to talk but they’re far from dumb. They have feelings too.