What the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals experience death

Re:What the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals ... by laretluval on Sunday August 26, 2018 @11:31PM (#17849273)

On the other hand, many of our emotions and emotional displays appear to be social in nature, and we are much more social than the average mammal.

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Re:What the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals ... by colanderman on Monday August 27, 2018 @12:53AM (#17849504)

Orcas aren't the "average" mammal. They have one of the most complex known social structures. [1]

Should we assume that solitary mammals – say, tigers – feel grief? Maybe not – they do not share the social structure humans have in which grief plays a part. Though we might assume they experience emotions related to maintaining a territory, such as pride and anger.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#Social_structure

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Re:What the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals ... by jacobush on Monday August 27, 2018 @04:02AM (#17850081)

I could totally expect a tiger to experience the pain of loss if their young were killed. After all, giving birth to and raising their young is a huge investment for them too.

Also, I have seen grown tigers play with humans and shown immense affection, so it seems to me they are capable of more social bonding than they generally express in the wild.

Given that lions and tigers are closely related, and that lions are super social, I could imagine tigers have some latent social "DNA" which is just not currently expressed very much in the wild.

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