Research Alert

1. Researchers working in the Congo’s Nouabale Ndoki National Park provide observations on a wild, female western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), who was observed to carry her dead infant for at least 16 days.

2. While several observations of behaviors towards dead members of the same species are available for chimpanzees, reports on other great ape species are less frequent.

3. Comparative observations in great apes and other nonhuman primates could reveal whether humans are unique in our ‘culturized’ ways to grieve.


Study and Journal:  "Attached beyond death: Wild female western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) carries and cares for mummified infant"   from  African Journal of Ecology
WCS Co-Author(s):  Claudia Stephan (Lead) , WCS Congo Program

Journal Link: African Journal of Ecology

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African Journal of Ecology