If you had any doubt in your mind about the emotional capabilities of animals and whether or not they can feel joy, sadness, pain and loss the way humans do this video of a dog burring a dead puppy will erase those doubts.
In the now viral video we see a stray dog come upon a dead puppy. It is unclear if the two dogs knew each other or had any connection at all. The sight of the stray spending minutes burring the little dog will soften even the most cynical of hearts.
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The black and white stray slowly walks over to the dead puppy and gives it a sniff or two. Realizing the baby dog is dead the dog buries the dead puppy, using its nose to cover the pup with dirt.
For three minutes and 20-seconds the stray dog took his time, paying meticulous attention, making sure the entire body of the dead puppy was covered and given a proper burial.
Some would say that we are anthropomorphizing the black and white dog, believing that he or she is capable of such complex human emotion when it is just a dog. But animals do have an awareness of death.
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There have been studies published saying primates and other mammals will often mourn the death of their young or a companion and grieve over a period of time. Mother Nature Network says there have been examples in the elephant community of animals lining up around the dead body of a member of the heard in an almost funeral like situation.
Time Magazine reports that a study has shown horses can "lapse into apparent depression when they lose a companion."
Newscientist.com says researchers have observed bottle nose dolphins reacting to death in various ways. In one instance they saw a mother dolphin frantically try to revive her dead newborn calf by pushing its body to the surface in an attempt to get the animal to breath.
The report says this behavior lasted about two-days and the mother dolphin seemed unable to accept the death of her calf.
In another event involving bottle nose dolphins New Scientist said researchers observed a group of adult dolphins attempting to keep a dying calf afloat as it succumbed to what looked to the scientists like a disease resulting from industrial pollution. The calf who later died to the sorrow of its pod is said to have had bleach marks on its body.
In recent stories involving dogs it seems that man's best friend truly has an understanding of mortality and has the ability to mourn and understand death.
In the wake of the Oklahoma tornados a small dog was found by police protecting the body of its dead owner, buried in the rubble of his home. In another story a police dog was photographed with his paw resting on the coffin of his fallen (human) partner.
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