Semi-regular Science: Chimps and Mourning

Chimps are more or less our cousins in an evolutionary sense. I find it absolutely intriguing that the way they see and deal with death is something that we can identify with readily. While we might find it difficult to accept how at home they are with corpses, hanging around them for months at a time, the difficulty the mothers have with their dead children is something incredibly poignant.

The sociologist and writer in me wants to spin this into a treatise on views of the afterlife and religion. In a society where there is no concept of an afterlife (where one might be reunited with dead friends and family) it would perhaps be more natural to spend more time with the dead, cementing their place in your life, even after they’re passed on.

Hmmm…trying to remember which cultures practice extended periods of viewing the dead…