Animal Grief and Mourning Behaviours

Observations of grief-like behaviours across many species — from elephants carrying dead calves to orca mothers carrying deceased infants for weeks — raise profound questions about animal emotional life and the welfare implications of bereavement.

Key Facts

Female orca J35 carried her dead calf for 17 days and over 1,600 kilometres in 2018, prompting widespread documentation
Elephants return to the bones of deceased herd members, touching them repeatedly in apparent mourning rituals
Chimpanzees have been documented grooming and carrying deceased infants and showing apparent depression after social group losses
Magpies and corvids have been observed placing grass and sticks beside deceased individuals in apparent funeral-like behaviour
Domestic dogs show behavioural changes consistent with grief following the loss of bonded companions including appetite loss and lethargy

Welfare Considerations

The welfare implications of animal grief are significant: if animals experience grief, then social loss — through slaughter, separation, or wildlife management — may cause prolonged suffering beyond the moment of loss. This has direct implications for practices like calf separation in dairy farming, culling of social group members, and the breaking up of bonded animal pairs. Welfare science increasingly calls for consideration of social bond disruption as a welfare harm in its own right.

What You Can Do

When possible, keep bonded animals together to avoid the welfare harm of social separation
Advocate for dairy farming practices that reduce the distress of cow-calf separation
Support research into animal grief to better understand the welfare impacts of social loss
Consider the social bond implications of any animal management decision, including end-of-life choices for pets