by JENNIFER VIEGAS
New papers provide rare glimpses of chimp rituals
From holding deathbed vigils to comforting the dying, chimpanzees face death in humanlike 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.
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