Articles for tag: animal emotions, elephant behavior, mourning rituals, , wildlife empathy

The Surprising Way Elephants Comfort Each Other After Loss

The Surprising Way Elephants Comfort Each Other After Loss

Gargi Chakravorty

Imagine watching a family member die and then seeing your entire community gather around, not to celebrate their life or say goodbye, but to offer you the exact support you need at your most vulnerable moment. This remarkable scene unfolds regularly in elephant herds across Asia and Africa, revealing one of nature’s most profound expressions ...

Why Wolves and Dogs May Share an Ancient Emotional Code

Why Wolves and Dogs May Share an Ancient Emotional Code

Jan Otte

When you gaze into your dog’s eyes, something magical happens. Both of your hearts seem to understand each other in a way that transcends species boundaries. Recent scientific breakthroughs are revealing that this connection isn’t just in your imagination. The emotional bond between humans and dogs runs deeper than mere domestication or training. Cutting-edge research ...

dog kissing woman in black crew-neck shirt

The Animal Scientists Believe Best Represents Human Emotion

Suhail Ahmed

Every day, in kitchens and parks and hospital corridors, an animal reads our faces, tunes into our voices, and answers with quiet, unmistakable feeling. For years, the mystery lingered: were we just projecting, or was something deeper at work? Now, a wave of studies has pulled the curtain back, revealing startling overlaps between human emotion ...

gray elephant playing with mud

Elephants That Mourn Their Dead

Suhail Ahmed

Under a merciless sun, a family of elephants gathers quietly around a fallen elder, touching the body with careful trunks as if reading a final story written in scent and skin. For decades, scientists called scenes like this mysterious, even anecdotal; now, a new wave of research is piecing together the evidence with rigor. Elephant ...

Primates Display Sophisticated Social Justice

11 Animal Behaviors That Prove Nature Has Its Own Science of Emotions

Andrew Alpin

When we think about emotions, we typically imagine them as uniquely human experiences. Yet across the animal kingdom, from the smallest mouse to the largest whale, creatures display complex emotional behaviors that challenge our understanding of what it means to feel. Recent surveys of animal behavior researchers show that an overwhelming majority ascribe emotions to ...

The Science of Elephant Emotion

Why Elephants Mourn the Dead Like Humans

Gargi Chakravorty

In the wild plains of Africa and the forests of Asia, elephants display a behavior that feels hauntingly familiar to us: they mourn their dead. These gentle giants have been seen standing vigil over fallen companions, touching their bones with their trunks, and even returning to the same spot years later. Scientists believe these rituals ...