Touching Animal Death Rituals That Will Make You Tear Up

Gorillas are another social species that develops strong attachments within their family group. When a family member dies, the primates usually show various signs of interest and stress. Gorilla family members may gently pat and touch a dead ape, and may even bury the body with leaves. In some cases, mother gorillas have been known to carry around their dead infants with them for days or even weeks, protecting the body from carrion scavengers. As the body slowly decomposes, the mother will eventually lay it to rest, but may remain depressed for a while longer.

When it comes mourning the loss of a dead family member, chimpanzees share similar characteristics as gorillas. Often, a chimp family gathers and circles around their deceased. They may holler, pace, sniff, and touch the body, often moving the limbs into various positions.

In the case of an infant’s death, mother chimps carry the baby’s body around for weeks, sometimes months. As a mother chimp mourns, she often continues to care for, protect, and communicate with the body. Additionally, a young chimp mourning the loss of their mother is especially heart-wrenching. The young chimp often becomes severely depressed, and they might refuse to leave their mother's body, eventually starving to death. 

Sea lions are generally solitary animals, often coming together only to mate and brood. However, the strong bonds sea lion mothers share with their offspring is genuinely deep. When a predator kills a pup, the mother sea lion becomes severely emotional and distraught. Often, she will cry out and moan for days over the loss of her baby. In cases where a pup is born stillborn, the mother will remain close beside the body for days often cuddling, nuzzling, and calling out sorrowfully to the carcass.

When elephants perform their death rituals, the herd generally surrounds the deceased body while nudging and fondling the carcass gently and swaying back in forth in an agitated, depressed state. The elephant mourning process can last for weeks, as the animal will often keep vigil over the dead animal’s remains and revisit their grave sites continuously.

In addition, elephants are an extremely sensitive species when it comes to death. Aside from mourning for their close-knit relatives, various cases reveal that elephants often mourn for unrelated elephant families as well as out-of-species creatures. Such as the case of Tarra, the elephant who mourned for the death of her small canine companion named Bella.

Horses are highly social creatures and enjoy the companionship they find within their herd. When a member of the herd dies, it can impact the entire herd. Horses have been known to encircle a dead herd mate, often smelling the corpse and pawing gently at its body. Some horses mourn by standing quietly around the body keeping their heads low and eyes fixated on it, while others may run around in confusion, whinnying and calling out to their dead friend. Because horses can easily become depressed over the death of a herd mate, horse owners find it best to let their herd go through the grieving process by allowing them to examine the dead body before its buried.