Chimp mums ‘mourn their dead infants’
February 1st, 2011 - 2:34 pm ICT by ANILondon, Feb 1 (ANI): Scientists have revealed for the first time that female chimpanzees mourn their dead infants.
According to researchers, chimpanzee mothers establish close physical relationships with their young, carrying them for up to two years and nursing them until they are six, reports the Telegraph.
But now scientists have filmed how one chimpanzee mother, whose 16-month-old infant died, apparently begins the grieving process.
The ape continued to carry the body for more than 24 hours before tenderly laying on the ground. Then from a short distance she watches over her child.
Periodically she returns to the body and touches the face and neck with her fingers to establish it was dead.
She then took the body to other chimpanzees in the troop to get a second opinion. The following day the chimp had abandoned the body, according to a report by scientists from the respected Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.
Dr Katherine Cronin and Edwin Van Leeuwen together with Prof Mark Bodamer, of Gonzaga University in Washington State, and Innocent Chitalu Mulenga videoed the chimpanzee in Chimfunshi in Zambia.
Dr Cronin said the research provided “unique insights into how chimpanzees, one of humans’ closest primate relatives, learn about death.”
The report has been published in the American Journal of Primatology. (ANI)
- 'Promiscuous' chimps produce more sperm - Feb 17, 2011
- Why chimps attack humans - Aug 12, 2010
- Bonobo chimps like humans may be hardwired to shake their heads to say 'no' - May 06, 2010
- Just like humans, chimps giggle even when the joke isn't funny - Mar 02, 2011
- Toddlers and chimps follow their peers - Apr 13, 2012
- Great apes too make sophisticated decisions - Dec 30, 2011
- Like humans, chimps too prefer using their right hands - Oct 29, 2010
- Just like humans, star-struck chimps too look up to their heroes - Jun 25, 2010
- Chimpanzees kill for territory - Jun 22, 2010
- Wild chimps learning how to outwit human hunters - Sep 04, 2010
- It's natural for girls to play with dolls and boys to like guns - Dec 21, 2010
- Malaria came from gorillas thousands of years ago - Sep 24, 2010
- Chimpanzees have repertoire of gestures for chatting - May 08, 2011
- Our genome more closely related to orangutans than chimps - Jan 27, 2011
- Michele wants an end to medical research on apes - May 30, 2011
Tags: chimp, chimpanzee, chimpanzees, cronin, dr katherine, edwin van, fingers, gonzaga university, grieving process, london feb, max planck, max planck institute, physical relationships, primate relatives, prof mark, psycholinguistics, scientists, second opinion, washington state, zambia