Birds hold 'funerals' for dead

I honestly did not read the whole topic but there is one thing to say in common:

We are only advanced animals and forget about that everytime. I think we consider us human because of the emotions or how you like to tag what makes us so outstanding. Anyways, my dog says otherwise.
She can communicate on a base level and she feels, regardless what other like to tell me.

Back to topic, I have heard about similar behavior with gorillas before and I dare to say there are animals that posses emotional and intelligent behavior.
While lurking here on ATS for months, there was a thread not long ago maybe 3 months about how different animals outskill us on different exercises like memorization and such.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


thats interesting because i was once out on a walk and i saw a dead magpie i than noticed that all the houses around where it was had magpies on the roofs or in the yars i wonder if theres any realtion to this

i've noticed this behavior in the zebra finches i raise.

it seems they notice one left behind, and stick around waiting for the not-moving (dead or sick) bird to join the flock.

friends of a feather...

Originally posted by ollncasino

Originally posted by SpearMint
I think they're inspecting it rather than mourning a loved one, funeral is probably the wrong word.

I believe elephants could possibly do it, they're extremely intelligent.

Certainly elephants are very clever. They can even paint pictures of other elephants.

An Elephant Painting an Elephant

They aren't even beyond creating a little elephant porn...

edit on 1-9-2012 by ollncasino because: (no reason given)

Be aware that the Mahouts training these elephants can be very cruel. I've worked on an Elephants sanctuary in Asia. The Mahouts first "haze" elephants by confining them into a small raceway and then beating them with metal hooks on wooden handles. This is to break the animals spirit and causes them to be more submissive to humans. I've seen elephants missing eyes because they were either hit or shot out with slingshots.

Elephant painting, begging in the streets (because we all know elephants belong in a busy city...), and taking tourists for rides all seems lovely to the visitors, but those elephants have been well and truly brutalised to get them to that stage.

www.all-creatures.org...

Can elephants really paint? this video features "Lek", a Thai lady I've worked with who knows a lot about what goes on behind the scenes. She now runs an elephant rescue / sanctuary.

vimeo.com...

By paying for elephant rides and paintings, you support the terrible training practices.

Sorry for being a downer!

EDIT - Here's a bit more - www.thescavenger.net...

Originally posted by Deadlockxii
reply to post by ErroneousDylan

 

Have you ever heard the term " Crows Court"?

Crows will gather in a group (a murder) and form a circle, they will then form a "court" to pass judgement on a crow. The crow that is being judged will stand in the center of the "court", then after a lot of cawing they might all fly off or the "Alpha" crow will enter the circle. If that happens, the crow being judged will bow its head and the "alpha " crow will execute it with a sharp blow to the skull.

Also both crows and magpies mourn their dead.

Has anyone ever witnessed, or have any information regarding a 'crows court'?

For the uninitiated, this is where a group of crows (or any other bird for that matter) gather in a circle around another single bird. It is believed they are passing judgement on the single bird for a misdeed, which will result in it either being pecked to death or set free. I read an article in a book about this once, but can find little information online. Have you, or anyone you know ever seen this? What happened? Do you believe it is like some bird - version of a court hearing, or is there some other explanation for it?

-----------------------------------

Yes, I saw it once, about 30 years ago. It's Rooks, not Crows, and what seemed to be going on, was the whole colony of Rooks, about forty birds, were sat in the middle of a field, on the other side of a river, that I was fishing. There was one adult Rook, in the middle of a loose circle. The Rooks were quite subdued, and not noisy, like they usually are. They often tapped their beaks together, and bobbed their heads up and down, occaisionly one of them would jump up in the air, and back down again. The Rook in the middle, just sat there, just as if he were on trial. After about two hours, there seemed to be some movement, and the circle closed in on itself, and there was a brief flurry of intense activity, then they flew away, in twos, and threes. Where they had been sat, was a dead rook, that had been pecked to death by the others.
My theory, is that the one on "trial" had been robbing the other members of the colony's nests. Rooks are the only Corvids, that live in colonys like this, so they cannot afford to have nest robbers, eating their young, and their eggs. Or they might as well be Crows. Crows nest well away from other Crows, because of their nest robbing tendencies, and Magpies too, are notorious robbers, but Rooks, and maybe Ravens, are different. Rooks are extrememly intelligent, and long lived, and have social skills not found in other Corvids, and this social structure would not be viable, if they allowed their Corvid nest robbing instinct to prevail in their own colonies.
That's my take on it, anyway. I've heard of other cases of this happening too, but always with Rooks.

uk.answers.yahoo.com...

reply to post by ErroneousDylan
elephants are so sweet and gentle I love them all

reply to post by TRiPWiRE


What you say may be true, and if it is, should be stopped. But we've got more pressing problems facing us. Human beings are starving to death, dying for lack of clean water, enslaved, brutalized, dying from preventable or easily-treated diseases. Much of the financial pressure to make "cute" elephants (and other animals) arises from exactly these problems.

I wouldn't expect too much compassion for animals from a species that doesn't even care for its own children.

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by Z07MB

 

Dearly befeathered we are gandered together here today to morn our feathered friend. Don't let sparrow overcome you but covey together and ask for forgivness with our sings. Don't let his flying the coop beak your heart.

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by Z07MB

 

Dearly befeathered we are gandered together here today to morn our feathered friend. Don't let sparrow overcome you but covey together and ask for forgivness with our sings. Don't let his flying the coop beak your heart.

OMG, you're a raven lunatic! All the boys and gulls were owling with laughter; I almost wren-ched my back from laughing, I was so egg-static. You have plumed the depths of humor! It was poultry in motion!! Of course, that's just my o-pinion.

reply to post by Kandinsky


well, just maybe, our eating animals is the reason aliens don't want to have anything to do with us huh

e.t.:"omg! We might taste like chicken to these monsters"

Originally posted by DAZ21
You know, I was thinking just the other day.

Where do birds go to die?

I've never seen a bird carcass, unless It's been road kill or a chick fallen from a nest.

So where do they go?

Maybe they are eating he dead ones. It's not a funeral, their just gathering for lunch. I'm just kidding. Birds recognize each other. I'm sure they wouldn't eat each other. But it would explain a lot.

By the way my wife says the same thing about the dead birds. Where are they?

Well perhaps it is a funeral and they bury the body.

Birds are fascinating animals. The group known as corvids are among the most intelligent group of animals, period. I've spent a lot of time studying birds, both in my free time and in academia. Yes, they mourn their dead and they have very complex social systems the likes of which are still being discovered and understood by us, the intelligent ones.....

Originally posted by corsair00
[Only atheists and smug scientific types ever thought that the biological world was always just random and meaningless.

How very narrow minded of you to make such a sweeping generalisation. You are incorrect in your arrogant assumption about both athiests and scientists for sooooo many reasons. Need I list some or shall you learn for yourself?

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


Here is a truly fascinating story that I was just sharing with someone yesterday - about the behavior of elephants - it's just amazing.... www.beliefnet.com...

See the link for the full story, which is several pages detailing the amazing stories of this man's life saving the elephants, but here's a snippet:

.... So, how after Anthony’s death, did the reserve’s elephants — grazing miles away in distant parts of the park — know?

“A good man died suddenly,” says Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D., “and from miles and miles away, two herds of elephants, sensing that they had lost a beloved human friend, moved in a solemn, almost ‘funereal’ procession to make a call on the bereaved family at the deceased man’s home.”

“If there ever were a time, when we can truly sense the wondrous ‘interconnectedness of all beings,’ it is when we reflect on the elephants of Thula Thula. A man’s heart’s stops, and hundreds of elephants’ hearts are grieving. This man’s oh-so-abundantly loving heart offered healing to these elephants, and now, they came to pay loving homage to their friend.”

reply to post by ErroneousDylan



Saw some nature show in which hippos did this with a dead ox (or some similar such beast).

I've seen a chikadee or some such little yellow bird that stood watch over its dead mate that smacked into a window.

Birds seem to be very social animals, hanging out in groups -- I have even seen a flock of a dozen or more hawks hanging out together -- so I am not surprised by this behavior of having a watch or wake for dead fellow avians.

I always found it interesting when people claim that animals have no culture, language, or other things associated with human beings. It seems odd to me that people seem to think that because animals are, very often, operating in a much more limited capacity (or at least in a way we don't understand) compared to humans, that they do not have emotions, communication, etc. It guess a lot of it is just rationalization for how humans treat them.

lmao ive heard it all now hahaha

if parrots die atleast they could probly speak about the deceased

This is intriguing but not surprising. Birds also share with humans the propensity to migrate to warmer climates during the winter months.

"And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered."

[Qur'an 6:38]