Date: April 3, 2019
Source: PeerJ
It is now
known that many animals exhibit unique behaviors around same-species corpses,
ranging from removal of the bodies and burial among social insects to quiet
attendance and caregiving among elephants and primates. Researchers in Rwanda
and Democratic Republic of Congo have been able to take a close look at the
behavioral responses to the deaths of three individuals -- both known and
unknown -- in gorillas and have reported their findings in PeerJ -- the
Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences.
Scientists
from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the University of California Davis, Uppsala
University, and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature observed
and filmed the behavior of mountain gorillas around the corpses of a
35-year-old dominant adult male and a 38-year-old dominant adult female from
the same social group living in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Both
individuals had died a few hours earlier of illnesses possibly linked to their
advanced age. Researchers also studied the behavior of a group of Grauer's
gorillas who found the body of a recently deceased adult male in Kahuzi-Biega
National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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