Often wild, and/or domestic, animals seem indifferent to the death of a fellow species family member. I do remember being shocked at the total indifference by our dog Bok to the death of his best friend Monty. Even though Bok had attended Monty's funeral, he showed no emotion whatsoever.
So, to see these Magpies obviously mourning the death of (I imagine) a family member is very heartening. They are upset, and occasionally try to revive him/her, without success.
I like Magpies; I see them as exotic, Parrot-like, creatures. And, of course, if I encounter a lone bird I always salute, and say 'Bonjour Monsieur Pie'.
Doesn't everyone?
If I go before the dog my husband has instructions to let her sniff me. I think dogs accept death that way. Some mourn - I'm thinking Greyfriars Bobby - but perhaps he didn't get to sniff his owner before the funeral.
ReplyDeleteBok certainly knew that his best friend Monty had died and had been buried, but he showed no 'external' reaction at all. It was as if Monty had never existed.
DeleteMagpies are scavengers, so I'm not sure if they're upset, or rather looking for their next meal....
ReplyDeleteCynic! Of course they're upset, one of them is a priest!
DeleteInteresting observation re magpies. I do believe there are quite a few animals that "mourn" their dead, elephants being one example. As a child I lived in an area of the motherland where, when you walked into the woods, dark fairy tale type forests, you'd find massive ant heaps. And I mean massive - both the heaps and the ants. Ants are, obviously, incredibly busy animals, tirelessly working their socks off - so accidents will happen. And what do you know: They do look out for each other, and will rush to pull their injured or dead back into the depth of their kingdom. It's quite extraordinary. Do they grieve as we, as humans, do? Who knows. Unlikely. Maybe we do project too much of us onto our animals - and they "feel" in a different way. On the other hand - nature is cruel, matter of fact, to the point. Where is the next dinner coming from? Will I be the Eagle's next stomach filler?
ReplyDeleteU
PS Afterthought: Remember Bambi? Bambi definitely grieved for his mother. Luckily his father turned up and took him under his antlers. Disney. The End.
Ants are indeed amazing creatures. They wage war, take prisoners as slaves, they are farmers, and they even have road sweepers. And, yes, they bury their dead.
DeleteMagpies are not my favourite birds in our garden. They steal eggs from the smaller birds' nests and eat the fledglings.
ReplyDeleteI forgive them the occasional peccadillo, as I like to see them flying about and screaming. Billy loves to chase them too.
DeleteThanks to the garden cats, I no longer have any birds in my garden, apart from wretched pigeons who try to steal the cat's food!
ReplyDeleteWhen I lost one of my two Labs, the remaining one missed her companion and spent time looking everywhere for her. She also missed my husband when he died and would always circle the car whenever I had been out in it, as though to say "Where is he?"
I would have liked to see Bok 'mourning' a bit, but he didn't. Maybe on the inside he was upset, but he didn't show it. I was terribly upset when both of them died.
DeleteThis week here in the safari a 66 year old elephant died, a video was published in which the elephant friends are standing around her and roaring loudly, earlier they tried to encourage her to get up and when they realized she was dead they cried a lot in the language of elephants. It was so sad to see.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've seen film of Elephants mourning their dead. Very moving. I love Elephants too.
DeleteI always salute the Magpie. If I see one I think sorrow...
ReplyDeleteThere are several versions. One for sorrow two for.... etc. I simply salute and say good morning.
DeleteOur dogs have always mourned the loss of one of their number. The one that mourned the hardest was Mavis the JR when we sadly lost our Chihuahua puppy and they were in different countries from each other. So for Mavis Bella just 'disappeared' from the family. It took her months to get over.
ReplyDeleteOur chickens also mourned the loss of one of their number, the higher up the pecking order a bird was, the longer the atmosphere was changed for. The closest friends were often to be found by a dead birds body if they had died during the night. We allowed all our girls and boys to live to their natural old ages ... I'm not a mass chicken murderer!!
I'm afraid all our hens fell victim to our neighbour's dogs. No-one said a word. It was if nothing had happened. What lovely neighbours we have.
DeleteA very handsome bird. I've never seen concern over death among birds. On my property, when a hawk swoops down to grab a bird, all the birds nearby disperse and fly away quickly. They do not want to be next.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame them. Not a pleasant way to go; to be eaten!
DeleteI think most animals mourn their dead... some more obvious than others (same as humans). And I find 'crows' the most interesting birds (always speak to them when they're around). Crows and magpies may be closely related.
ReplyDeleteI always speak to birds; just to say 'hello' no more.
DeleteI seem to remember that magpies mate for life so that is probably why the bird seems to be mourning the death of the other bird. It has lost its life partner.
ReplyDeleteJane
There is certainly something very emotional going on in the video. Possibly it's a spouse and offspring doing the mourning. Who knows!
DeleteI witnessed something similar a few years ago. A large common crow had died and was in repose underneath one of our small ornamental trees. Three or four of his mates were sitting Shiva on the nearby lower branches for about a day and a half. One would fly down occasionally to check the body then return to their nearby branch. Fascinating and rather sad. They flew off eventually and I gave the poor thing a respectful little burial.
ReplyDeleteThat's very sad. Well done you for seeing to its funeral.
DeleteFascinating video. Like other corvids, magpies are such intelligent, resourceful birds.
ReplyDeleteAnd much maligned. They are a national treasure.
DeleteI love magpies too Cro and found the film both sad and fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThere's no question that they were concerned for their 'friend'.
Delete