Many people wonder if animals have some innate sense or understanding when another animal is dying. This is an interesting question that does not have a definitive scientific answer yet. However, there are some intriguing signs and examples that suggest some animals may have the ability to detect when death is near for another creature. In this article, we’ll explore what’s known so far about how animals react to dying members of their own or another species.
Signs that animals may sense impending death
There are various anecdotal accounts of animals seeming to exhibit unusual behaviors around dying animals. Here are some common signs that suggest animals may detect when death is approaching:
- Odd vocalizations – Some animals seem to make cries, calls, or other sounds when around a dying animal that they do not normally make.
- Staying close – Many animals appear to want to stay close to a dying member of their species and not leave their side.
- Licking/touching – Animals such as dogs may lick or nuzzle a dying companion excessively.
- Loss of appetite – An animal loses interest in food and water when another animal is dying.
- Guarding – Some animals take on a protective stance over a dying animal and guard it closely.
- Restlessness – There are reports of animals pacing, circling, or seeming unsettled when around a dying peer.
While anecdotal, these types of behaviors suggest that perhaps on some level animals recognize the process of death unfolding. However, it is unclear whether they understand the larger concept of death being imminent.
Reactions to dying animals in specific species
There are some unique ways individual animal species seem to react when around a dying member of their kind or another species. Here are some examples:
Elephants
Elephants are known to carefully guard sick companions and make efforts to revive calves that have died. When an elephant is dying, other members of the herd often stand vigil and may vocalize loudly. Elephants sometimes bury dead elephants’ bodies and cover them with dirt and vegetation. They may revisit burial sites periodically too.
Dogs
Many dog owners report that their pets seem to know when a canine companion is dying or going to pass away soon. Dogs may go into a depression or lose interest in toys and food after another household dog dies. Dogs have also been known to guard and stay close to a dying dog, offering comfort through presence.
Cats
Cats do not always react in an obvious way around a dying feline companion, but subtle signs like purring more than normal or staying close by may indicate they detect the situation. Cats are more likely to vocalize loudly or meow when interacting with a dying animal.
Horses
Horses are extremely social herd animals. When a horse is dying, other horses in the herd are likely to gather around compassionately. They may nuzzle, lick, or gently nibble on the dying horse. If a horse passes away, the rest of the herd may stand vigil over the deceased horse’s body for some time.
Birds
Some bird species like crows appear to respond to a dead bird by loudly calling and gathering together. They also may exhibit curiosity through tentatively poking at or touching the dead bird. Birds seem to be able to recognize dead individuals and convey information about them to other birds.
Rodents
Rats, mice, and other rodents are quite social creatures. They can often detect signs of illness in another rodent through smell, sound, and sight. As a result, they frequently know when another rodent is weak or dying. Rodents may move nesting material to surround a dying companion to comfort it.
Livestock animals
Cattle, pigs, and other livestock together in herds or groups will commonly identify a dying or weakened animal. The herd seems to instinctively separate the animal from the group, perhaps sensing impending death. However, they may still stay vigilant and guard the dying animal.
Scientific studies on animal responses to death
While a lot of evidence so far is anecdotal, some scientific studies also back up the possibility that animals may have the capacity to sense and process dying and death:
| Study | Findings |
|---|---|
| University of Colorado – Dogs | Showed dogs exhibit unique behavioral changes around dying dogs that indicate emotional responses. |
| University of California, Davis – Rats | Found rats can sense when a fellow rat is dying and will make pro-social efforts to revive or comfort it. |
| University of Toulouse – Maggots | Maggots appear to be able to detect the risk of death in other maggots and actively avoid cannibalism of dying individuals. |
These studies lend credibility to the concept that perhaps animals can intuit or physiologically detect when death looms. More controlled research studies are still needed though.
Do animals understand the concept of death?
While many animals certainly seem to recognize dying and dead individuals, it is less clear if they have an abstract understanding of the permanence of death. Some experts theorize animals may have a concept of death’s finality and lack of physical presence. But more research is needed to demonstrate if this is provable.
Some signs that hint at the possibility some animals comprehend death include:
- Long-term behavioral changes – When an animal companion dies, some pets remain depressed, lethargic, or anxious for weeks or months, suggesting they miss the deceased.
- Searching/waiting behaviors – Some animals seem to repeatedly search for and wait for a companion that has died to return.
- Death rituals – Elephants, primates, and other animals have been observed performing what seem to be ritualistic behaviors toward dead animals, implying a larger meaning.
However, these could also simply be instinctive responses not tied to a full cognitive understanding. Overall, more controlled research is needed to determine if animals can ever truly comprehend the concept of death.
Why do animals react to dying and death?
There are a few key theories from scientists on why animals exhibit apparent responses to dying and dead animals:
Detection of bodily changes
Animals may be able to physiologically detect subtle signs – like scent, altered breathing, stiffness, or lack of normal sounds – that indicate an animal is dying. Once detected, this triggers protective and investigative behaviors.
Instinctual evolutionary responses
Reacting to dying animals may be an ingrained evolutionary adaptation to isolate sick individuals and prevent contamination/disease. Staying near the dying animal could be a protective behavior.
Social attachment
Many animals form strong social bonds and attachments. Recognizing dying may allow them to express grief/loss and engage in final social behaviors like comfort.
Emotional contagion
Some scientists propose basic emotions can be shared and amplified among animals. So others’ decline provokes intuitive concern and worry.
Overall though, more controlled research will be needed to uncover the roots of why animals act as they do around the dying and deceased.
Ways animals respond when another animal has died
Once an animal has fully passed away, how do fellow animals react? Some common responses include:
- No longer interacting or avoiding the body – Many animals, like deer, may instinctively avoid a dead body.
- Social mourning behaviors – Elephants, primates, and wolves notably mourn dead companions for extended periods through vocalizations, stopping feeding, or lethargy.
- Removal/burial – Species like elephants and chimpanzees may push or drag bodies away and cover or “bury” them after death.
- Curiosity/investigation – Some animals like cats may persistently sniff, lick, or gently poke at the body as if trying to investigate and understand what has happened.
- Guarding – Some animals, often mothers, continue to stay close to and protectively stand over a dead offspring’s body.
- Cannibalism – While not the most pleasant response, many species like rodents are known to eat deceased group members, likely as an instinctive reaction.
These reactions indicate animals certainly notice the change death brings. And some species appear to have responses signaling grief, loss, curiosity, or memory of the deceased.
Can some animals sense death before it happens?
There are many anecdotal reports of animals seeming to sense approaching death or danger before it occurs. Can animals actually intuit when death, often accidental, is imminent?
There are a few reasons why animals may sometimes appear to anticipate approaching death:
- Sharp senses – Animals can hear, see, and smell subtle sights, sounds, and odors that signal impending danger we can miss. These cues may warn of approaching death.
- Change in routine – Disruptions to an animal’s normal routine or environment may cause unease signaling unfamiliar mortal risk is near.
- Processing of past threats – If an animal has previously encountered a threatening situation or death in a similar context, it may be on alert there is heightened risk.
- Picking up on human cues – Animals often closely observe human body language and behavior. They may detect subtle cues of human anxiety about mortality risks.
Overall though, scientists caution against definitively stating animals have a true sixth sense or psychic ability to predict approaching death. Their exceptional physical senses likely account for most examples of seemingly advanced detection abilities.
Conclusion
In summary, do animals know when other animals are dying? The research remains unclear. But many examples suggest certain species can identify dying and dead animals and modify their behaviors in response. This implies some animals likely have an innate capacity to physiologically sense death is approaching. And they may exhibit a form of psychological response and grieving once death has occurred.
However, more controlled studies are still needed to determine if animals have an abstract concept of the permanence of death. Their reactions could often be instinctive versus tied to cognitive understanding. Overall, the intersection of animal cognition and mortality remains mysterious and intriguing as we learn more about our fellow creatures’ awareness.