Eight
Dante de Kort
Last winter   Dante de Kort -- an eight-year-old boy who lives in central Arizona --  found a dead collared peccary  a wild pig-like animal  near  his  house.  He  set up a motion-controlled camera nearby  and over the next ten days  was surprised to discover footage of the peccary's herd returning to visit their dead herd-member  over and over.
When  he  wrote up  his  findings in a school science-fair presentation  it caught the attention of local biologist Mariana Altricher. It looked like the wild pecarries were in mourning  which was surprising: Scientists have seen grief-like behavior in animals like elephants  dolphins and primates  which are known for their high level of intelligence. But never in these creatures  as National Geographic reports:
Having studied the social  pig-like mammals for years  Altrichter knew how tightly bonded peccaries could be. But she'd never witnessed herd members return to a body repeatedly ... “It was pretty amazing because it wasn’t just an immediate reaction and then they moved on—it went on for 10 days ” says Altrichter  chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Peccary Specialist Group. [snip] In the videos  the peccaries pay close attention to the body  nuzzling  biting  sniffing  and staring at it. They slept next to the carcass  and even tried to lift it by wedging their snouts under the body and pushing upward. And when a pack of coyotes approached their fallen peer  the herd chased them away. “It really surprised me that they would stand up to the coyotes ” says  de Kort   noting the peccaries were outnumbered.
Altricher used the video evidence to write a scientific paper -- "Collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) behavioral reactions toward a dead member of the herd" -- that lists  de Kort  as its lead author.
[TGT]found a dead collared peccary  a wild pig-like animal  near  [TGT]  house.  [TGT]  set up a motion-controlled camera nearby  and over the next ten days  was surprised to discover footage of the peccary's herd returning to visit their dead herd-member  over and over.
When  he  wrote up  his  findings in a school science-fair presentation  it caught the attention of local biologist Mariana Altricher. It looked like the wild pecarries were in mourning  which was surprising: Scientists have seen grief-like behavior in animals like elephants  dolphins and primates  which are known for their high level of intelligence. But never in these creatures  as National Geographic reports:
Having studied the social  pig-like mammals for years  Altrichter knew how tightly bonded peccaries could be. But she'd never witnessed herd members return to a body repeatedly ... “It was pretty amazing because it wasn’t just an immediate reaction and then they moved on—it went on for 10 days ” says Altrichter  chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Peccary Specialist Group. [snip] In the videos  the peccaries pay close attention to the body  nuzzling  biting  sniffing  and staring at it. They slept next to the carcass  and even tried to lift it by wedging their snouts under the body and pushing upward. And when a pack of coyotes approached their fallen peer  the herd chased them away. “It really surprised me that they would stand up to the coyotes ” says  de Kort   noting the peccaries were outnumbered.
Altricher used the video evidence to write a scientific paper -- "Collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) behavioral reactions toward a dead member of the herd" -- that lists  de Kort  as its lead author.