Death comes for the primate

So, do primates have emotions? I don’t argue that at all.

Do they process death the same way we do?

Appearances aside, even the photo evidence of The New York Times aside, probably not.

Call the gorilla mother’s actions of carrying around the body of a dead “toddler” for three-four days “reflex” more than emotional acting out.

That’s not to say there’s not “something” happening, but it’s doubtful its anything like human grief processing.

That’s not to say no “higher” animal has an abstract understanding of death.

As the story points out, elephants clearly do have something that appears to be an abstract reflecting on death of other members of their species.