A recent study by University College London (UCL) anthropologists reveals that macaque mothers exhibit a brief period of restlessness following the death of their infants, contrasting with the prolonged grief responses observed in humans. This research offers new insights into the emotional lives of non-human primates and the evolutionary aspects of grief.
Key Points at a Glance
- Macaque mothers display short-term restlessness after infant loss, without prolonged grief behaviors typical in humans.
- The study observed 22 macaque mothers, half of whom had recently lost infants, over a 16-day period.
- Bereaved mothers spent less time resting but showed no significant changes in feeding, grooming, or displacement behaviors.
- Findings suggest that while primates experience bereavement, their grief responses differ from human patterns.
- The research contributes to the field of evolutionary thanatology, exploring death and grief across species.
Grief is a complex emotional response often considered unique to humans. However, a study conducted by researchers at University College London challenges this notion by examining how non-human primates, specifically macaque mothers, respond to the loss of their offspring.
The study focused on 22 macaque mothers at the Caribbean Primate Research Center on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. Half of these mothers had experienced the recent death of an infant, while the other half served as a control group. Over a 16-day period, researchers meticulously recorded behaviors such as resting, feeding, grooming, and displacement activities using the CyberTracker software.
Contrary to expectations, bereaved macaque mothers spent less time resting compared to their non-bereaved counterparts. Co-author Dr. Alecia Carter noted, “Following the loss of an infant, we had expected the macaque mothers to spend more time resting, as is common among bereaved humans. What we actually observed was the opposite.” This restlessness was not accompanied by significant changes in other behaviors like feeding or grooming.
Lead author Emily Johnson explained that this short-term restlessness might represent an initial ‘protest’ phase, akin to reactions observed in mother-infant separation studies among primates. However, unlike humans, these mothers did not exhibit prolonged signs of grief such as lethargy or appetite loss.
The researchers distinguish between bereavement—the state of losing someone—and grief, the emotional response to that loss. While macaque mothers experience bereavement, the absence of extended grief behaviors suggests a different coping mechanism. Johnson emphasized the need for further research, stating, “Our findings show no behavioral markers of grief in the way humans understand it among the macaque mothers, so we recommend further study in this area and greater data collection on primates’ responses to bereavement.”
This study contributes to the emerging field of evolutionary thanatology, which explores how different species perceive and respond to death. Understanding these responses in non-human primates can shed light on the evolutionary roots of human grief and the social bonds that underpin it.
As we continue to explore the emotional lives of animals, studies like this challenge our assumptions and deepen our understanding of the shared experiences between humans and other species.
Source: University College London
