Goldsborough Zoë, van Leeuwen Edwin J C, Kolff Kayla W T, de Waal Frans B M, Webb Christine E
Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Primates. 2020 Jan;61(1):93-102. doi: 10.1007/s10329-019-00752-x. Epub 2019 Sep 4.
Comparative thanatology encompasses the study of death-related responses in non-human animals and aspires to elucidate the evolutionary origins of human behavior in the context of death. Many reports have revealed that humans are not the only species affected by the death of group members. Non-human primates in particular show behaviors such as congregating around the deceased, carrying the corpse for prolonged periods of time (predominantly mothers carrying dead infants), and inspecting the corpse for signs of life. Here, we extend the focus on death-related responses in non-human animals by exploring whether chimpanzees are inclined to console the bereaved: the individual(s) most closely associated with the deceased. We report a case in which a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) mother experienced the loss of her fully developed infant (presumed stillborn). Using observational data to compare the group members' behavior before and after the death, we found that a substantial number of group members selectively increased their affiliative expressions toward the bereaved mother. Moreover, on the day of the death, we observed heightened expressions of species-typical reassurance behaviors toward the bereaved mother. After ruling out several alternative explanations, we propose that many of the chimpanzees consoled the bereaved mother by means of affiliative and selective empathetic expressions.
比较死亡学涵盖了对非人类动物与死亡相关反应的研究，并致力于阐明人类在死亡背景下行为的进化起源。许多报告显示，人类并非唯一受群体成员死亡影响的物种。特别是非人类灵长类动物会表现出诸如聚集在死者周围、长时间搬运尸体（主要是母亲搬运死去的婴儿）以及检查尸体是否有生命迹象等行为。在此，我们通过探究黑猩猩是否倾向于安慰失去亲人者（与死者关系最密切的个体）来扩展对非人类动物与死亡相关反应的关注。我们报告了一个案例，一只黑猩猩（黑猩猩属）母亲失去了她已发育完全的婴儿（推测为死产）。利用观察数据比较死亡前后群体成员的行为，我们发现大量群体成员有选择地增加了对失去亲人的母亲的亲和表达。此外，在死亡当天，我们观察到对失去亲人的母亲出现了更多典型的安慰行为。在排除了几种其他解释后，我们提出许多黑猩猩通过亲和及有选择的共情表达来安慰失去亲人的母亲。
