A group of researchers surprised the world by posting three videos of funeral rites performed spontaneously by gorillas, so we observe these primates have an idea of what death is, look bad and suffer the loss of one of their own. , develop various behaviors that can be considered farewell rituals.
We must remember that the Western world was anthropocentric and Eurocentric, it was very difficult for human beings to understand that our species is also part of the animal world, at the same time it was also believed that the Aboriginal and Black peoples “had no soul”, that is, that they did not belong to the human race.
- We also think that other animals are very different species to us.
- So it is so important this recording of the funeral rituals of gorillas.
- Their attitude to death is clearly similar to that of humans.
- And it also shows that they have great intelligence and an emotional world.
- Similar to ours.
“The animals of the world exist for their own reason. Weren’t they made for humans?
One of the stories published in the study, led by Amy Porter, is about a gorilla that researchers have nicknamed “Titus. ” He was an elderly specimen and the alpha male of his group. It happened in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.
It all started when a young gorilla, with alpha male characteristics, joined the group. He began to contest the leadership with Titus. To get rid of his rival, Titus forced his group to travel long distances with the intention of leaving the other halfway.
The walks were so intense that they eventually left the gorilla exhausted, and several incidents occurred during the crossing.
Three weeks after the start, Titus remained silent in his nest for three days, at the end of which he died; his best friend remained by his side all the time, day and night; all the members of the herd, one by one, stood for a few minutes by Titus’ corpse, a way to pay homage to the dead leader.
This whole scene shows one of the gorillas’ funeral rituals. There was also a curious fact. A DNA test found that Titus’ rival was his own son: a fact that deserves to be studied by Freud.
Tusk was the only adult female in Titus’ herd, when the young gorilla arrived she was behaving sexually aggressively with him, however, this gorilla, with her children, violently rejected the advances of this new member of the herd.
A year after Titus’s death, gorilla Tusk began to be in poor health, in just 20 days he experienced a significant decline, until his death, he had two children and both stayed with her the last hours of his life. Two other gorillas also accompanied the corpse.
In this case, there were behaviors that may seem strange. The youngest son approached the mother’s body and tried to suck on her breast, although he was weaned several years ago. Experts call this behavior “comforting breastfeeding. “
The eldest son, in turn, began making defiant gestures and even kicked the corpse. The new leader of the herd was present and also violently struck Tusk’s chest. Scientists explained that this was not aggressive behavior, but expressions of frustration and rejection of Tusk’s death. It is also a modality of gorilla funeral rituals.
Another funeral gorilla ritual was recorded during the accompaniment of a herd from Congo, in this case it is not a gorilla from the herd that died, what happened was that during a walk, a group encountered the corpse of a gorilla they did not know. Know.
The herd sat silently around the corpse and observed it for a few minutes, they also felt it, licked and caressed it, in their actions it has been shown that they have performed these actions with respect, silence and seriousness. attitude of all gorillas.
In this case there were also difficult attitudes, but only on the part of the alpha male, it was like expressing rejection for the death felt by the whole group, after all the gorillas finished sniffing and licking the corpse, the leader of the herd dumped the body on the bushes.