There has always been a persistent belief among pet owners and animal lovers alike that animals could potentially be more intelligent than we may assume for them to be. Some also believe them to be capable of understanding and experiencing a wide spectrum of emotions such as grief and loss, just as humans do.
A heart-rendering video that has recently made the rounds over social media would certainly lend credence to that belief, after a stray dog was recently seen mourning the loss of what is believed to be its best friend after a harrowing accident.
Stray dog seen frantically burying dead cat friend, mourns its death
As shared by TikTok user @innerthoughts.99, they explained how they had encountered a stray dog while waking past a road. At the time, both the stray dog and cat, whom appeared to be good friends, had been attempting to cross the street when the cat met an untimely demise after it was suddenly run-over by a passing vehicle.
Shocked and devastated over the sudden loss of her friend, the dog was said to have whined at the sight of the cat’s body and waited patiently for a safe moment to pluck it out from the middle of the road and on to safety.
She could then be seen digging frantically at what appears to be a flowerbed nearby, before laying her feline friend to rest by burying her.
Uploaded six days ago, the short but tear-jerking clip has since been viewed a whopping 18.6 million times. Many netizens commented how moved they were by the obvious grief that the stray dog had expressed over the death of her companion.
Others discuss how this was proof that animals are capable of grieving and mourning the loss of their loved ones, just as humans do.
But are dogs capable of feeling grief?
With all that said, are dogs capable of feeling grief and mourning upon the death of a friend or family member? Well according to researchers, there has been evidence to suggest that canines are capable of feeling emotional changes similar to that of grief upon the loss of those close to them, reports The Guardian.
“Dogs are highly emotional animals who develop very close bonds with the members of the familiar group.
This means that they may be highly distressed if one of them dies and efforts should be made to help them cope with this distress.” said Dr Federica Pirrone of the University of Milan, one of the study’s authors.
Their research findings were obtained based from collated responses obtained from a ‘dog mourning questionnaire’ that had been sent out to 426 Italian adults who owned two dogs, and where one of their dogs had passed while the other was still living. It was suggested that the loss of a familiar companion may have disrupted shared behaviours in the dog’s routine, leading to changes in behaviour.
But the habit of digging up and burying carcasses specifically may be prompted by a more practical and less sentimental reason: food. Speaking on account of a similar video involving a dog burying a dead puppy back in 2013, New York-based animal-behavior consultant Peter Borchelt said that the practice of burying meat and bones (in this case, a carcass), can be explained as their instinct to store food for future consumption.
This is further echoed by American dog trainer Cesar Milan, who wrote that the canine practice of burying food is an evolutionary instinct.
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