Learning from a mother's grief

The baby gorilla's death wasn't the fault of its mother, but of the system that confined them both for our entertainment
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Gana the gorilla carries her dead baby on her shoulder at the zoo in Muenster, western Germany Photo: AP

UK newspapers reported on the grieving of a gorilla at Münster Zoo over the death of her three-month-old old baby on 16 August with headlines such as "We are not alone in experiencing grief", "A mother's grief" and "Ape's agony as baby dies".

The accompanying photographs show 11-year-old Gana holding Claudio's lifeless little body, at times carrying him on her back. Zoo visitors were reduced to tears at the sight.

Press reports have shown sympathy for the zoo that such a sad event should happen and suggest that the death of the infant, and Gana's rejection of a previous offspring last year, is somehow a mystery.

There is actually little mystery. Deaths and rejection of young happen at zoos worldwide every day. The mystery is, perhaps, that the media rarely take an interest – unless it involves an iconic mammal such as a gorilla or polar bear.

Why is it that animals in zoos commonly fail to raise their young? Some zoos deliberately remove young and hand-rear them to use in displays or other publicity. But many animals simply lack the skills to raise offspring because they have been denied the opportunity to learn from family members. Learning behaviour that is so crucial for survival in the wild is stripped away by captivity. In turn, offspring who do survive go on to reject their young too.

The zoo's director told the media that he did not intervene when keepers
noticed Claudio wasn't feeding properly because "we cannot keep on taking away children from a mother".

Yet that is exactly what zoos do when they separate families and send them to other zoos. The debate should not be about whether it is natural for a zoo to intervene in these cases, but whether zoos should exist at all.

Whilst it is disappointing that the media have been unable to recognise the zoo's role in Claudio's death, what is equally frustrating is the reaction by some to the discussion of emotions in non-human animals.

Although most writers have compared the emotions Gana is now experiencing to those of humans at the loss of a loved one, many scientists still refuse to accept that approach.

The Scotsman quoted a primate expert as saying: "My feeling would be that she [Gana] would be going through very similar emotions to any mother." He felt it necessary, however, to add: "But, of course, it's extremely difficult to prove scientifically" that non-human animals "have emotions like ours."

A psychologist told the Independent that, although other animals understand "loss" (separation from a social companion), "studies of the mental processes of other animals ... indicate that the conceptual level necessary for understanding death has not been achieved."

A New Scientist blog explored whether any animal (human or non-human) really understands death, with most respondents recognising the comparison in emotions, although one commenter noted:

No one can prove animals experience emotions as we human animals do: to do so would require someone to experience both their condition and ours, and that's not possible. The scientific answer is simply to oppose all such nonsensical claims, until such time as proof exists.

This is typical of how "mainstream" scientists either fail to recognise the
rich emotional lives of animals, or fear being labelled "unscientific" if
they do.

In his recent book The Emotional Lives of Animals, Professor Marc Bekoff wrote: "my suspicion is that 'doubt' about animal emotions is espoused not because it serves science but because it protects the emotional needs of the scientist." He adds:

A lack of certainty should not be an excuse to delay action. Sometimes we have to act on our best judgment, because we may never have "all" the facts, and if we wait for absolute certainty, we might never do anything.

Münster Zoo director Jörg Adler said of Claudio's death:

This, perhaps, is one of the greatest gifts that a zoo can bestow – to show "animals" are very much like ourselves, and feel elation and pain. Gana lost a child, but I think in that loss, she taught people here so much.

Ironically, what zoos teach us is that captivity is an unnatural place for any animal and that if we do not want to see such deaths continue we must phase out zoos and protect natural habitats for the benefit of all species.

A post-mortem examination of Claudio will take place once his mother relinquishes his body, but for now the zoo is describing his death as being caused by "some heart defect."

Claudio's death was not the fault of his mother. It was the fault of the zoo
system that confines wild animals for entertainment.

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