Although it used to be thought that grieving was a higher emotion that only humans could feel, modern zoological research is overturning some of this assessment of the natural world. Elephants have been shown to display grief-like behaviours when a member of the herd dies, for instance. The same sorts of behaviours have also been noted in wolves and goats. Some apes also appear to grieve for their departed troop members. Bonobos, for example, have been known to stay around the bodies of dead family members long after they would have been expected to move on under other circumstances. Some scientists also believe that certain species of birds have the capacity to grieve and cite the behaviour of mute swans following the death of a cygnet as an example. Whether or not this behaviour is true grief or something like it is likely to remain a mystery for some time to come, however.
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