How Do Animals Understand Death?

Philosopher Susana Monsó unpacks the latest research into how animals like possums, chimps, and ants interpret death.

Throughout history, humans have given a lot of thought to death. We’ve grappled with our mortality, created elaborate burial rituals, and contemplated how best to mourn the loss of a loved one.

But what about other animals? How do they understand death? Scientists have begun looking at this question more closely in the last two decades.

For example, chimpanzees have a wide variety of responses to death based in part on their relationship with the deceased. Possums put on elaborate displays to fake their own deaths. Ants can tell another ant is dead by the chemicals it omits, but have no concept of what death actually means.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Susana Monsó, associate professor of philosophy at the National Distance Education University in Spain and author of Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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