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Researchers have observed it numerous times in nature: from primates, baboons to monkeys, carrying their babies after death. This also occurs regularly in non-primate species, but what is not clear is the motivation or reason behind it.
In the largest analysis of this type of behavior in primates to date, a new study suggests that child cadaver carrying (ICC) may be part of the grieving process, as far as we can tell. For example, there are links between the strength of the mother-child bond and the duration of babywearing behavior.
The research looked at a total of 126 previous studies, covering 409 cases of primate mothers responding to infant death. Of the 50 primate species included in the analysis, 80% of them showed some form of ICC behavior.
“Our study indicates that primates may be able to learn death the same way humans do: it may take some experience to understand that death results in long-lasting ‘cessation of function’, which is one of the concepts of death that humans have, ”says anthropologist Alecia Carter of University College London (UCL) in the UK.
“What we don’t know, and may never know, is whether primates can understand that death is universal, that all animals – including themselves – will die.”
While it is difficult to determine whether primates actually understand that their babies are dead, research has shown that younger mothers are more likely to bear dead babies and that traumatic deaths – such as accidents or infanticide – were less likely to lead to the ICC.
CCI has been seen most often in great apes and Old World monkeys, the two species that also carried their children the longest after death, on average. Infants who died at a younger age – thus assumed to have a stronger bond with their mother – were carried the longest.
Other factors taken into account, such as climate, did not seem to have an influence, and the carrying of dead children was by no means universal in the 409 cases. Some primates, such as lemurs, do not show ICC behavior but sometimes return to the corpse and maintain the calls of mother-to-child contact.
“Our study also shows that, through the experience of death and external cues, primate mothers can become more aware of death and therefore ‘decide’ not to take their dead child with them, even if they can still. feeling emotions related to the loss, ”says biological anthropologist Elisa Fernández Fueyo of UCL.
As the researchers point out, our common evolutionary history means that primate social ties are likely to be similar to ours, but more study will be needed to better understand what is happening precisely here.
It’s possible that early humans treated infant deaths the same way we see primates dealing with them here and the rituals around death that we have today evolved from that point on.
Today, the team is looking for other links between humans and primates regarding thanatological behaviors. To that end, they launched a website called ThanatoBase for researchers to record many more observations of how primates act around death – and what they might feel about it.
“Our study also has implications for what we know about how grief is treated in non-human primates,” says Carter. “It is known that human mothers who have a stillbirth and are able to hold their babies are less likely to suffer from severe depression because they have the opportunity to express their connection.”
“Some primate mothers may also need the same time to cope with their loss, showing how strong and important maternal bonds are to primates and mammals in general.”
The research was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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