Chimps confront death in human-like ways Chimpanzees face death
in human-like ways that indicate their awareness of death is
probably much more developed than previously thought, suggest
two new studies. The papers, both published in the journal
Current Biology, provide rare, intimate glimpses of chimpanzees
dealing with death. For the first study, scientists observed how
three adult chimpanzees reacted when an elderly female, named
Pansy, gradually passed away in an indoor enclosure at Blair
Drummond Safari Park in Stirling, Scotland. The over 50-year-old
Pansy had grown increasingly lethargic before lying down on the
floor one day after eating. "In the days before Pansy died, the
others were notably attentive towards her, and they even altered
their routine sleeping arrangements to remain by her, by
sleeping on the floor in a room where they don't usually sleep,"
says lead author Dr James Anderson. Blossom, another elderly
female, and Pansy's daughter, Rosie, both stroked and groomed
the dying Pansy, and so