Animals and their understanding of death

A new scientific discipline promises to bring us closer to knowing how different species react to dying

A herd of elephants
Elephants appear to engage in ritualistic behaviours around death – for example, by gathering around deceased members of their herd
(Image credit: Thilina Kaluthotage / NurPhoto via Getty Images)

What do animals know about death? It's a question Charles Darwin himself pondered. "Who can say what cows feel, when they surround and stare intently on a dying or dead companion?" the biologist wrote.

But for much of the 20th century, many scientists didn't believe animals understood the difference between life and death. "Monkeys and apes do not recognize death, for they react to their companions as if the latter were alive but passive," wrote the primatologist Solly Zuckerman in 1932. 

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.