The Mystery of Animal Grief

Scientists are finding new evidence that beasts honor, mourn and even hold wakes for their dead. What it reveals about them--and us

Charlotte Dumas

Horses can lapse into apparent depression when they lose a companion.

Nobody feels cuddly about crows. They're too big, too loud, too mean. They scavenge with the greed of buzzards, prey without the grace of eagles and even chase down children who come too close to their nests. They are the dark symbols of human mythology--portents of plague, of sorcery, of evil. There's a reason the proper term for a flock of them is a murder of crows, and it's not because we like having them around.

But there's something deeper going on in the soul of a crow. An animal that inflicts death so readily seems deeply moved when one of...

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