CHIMPS MAY BE AWARE OF OTHERS' DEATHS

RARE TV FOOTAGE SHOWS HOW CHIMPS
GRIEVE OVER THE DEATH OF A LOVED ONE

STIRLING, Scotland (Reuters) - Researchers in Scotland say rare video of a chimpanzee dying has offered a unique glimpse of how one of man's closest relatives deals with death and grieving. The pictures show the final hours and moment of death of an older female chimp living in a small group at a British safari park as captured on video. “Many people thought that death awareness is uniquely human so our observations are causing us to question whether the distinction in terms of death awareness between humans and non-humans is as great as people thought,” said Jim Anderson, a senior lecturer at Stirling University's psychology department. Anderson said they have observed distinctly novel behaviour because traumatic deaths have been seen before: “but never a peaceful death like this”. The footage shows group members grooming and caressing the sick female and apparently testing her for signs of life as she died. They left her soon after her death but her adult daughter returned and remained by her mother all night.

When keepers removed the mother's body the next day, the chimpanzees remained calm and subdued. For several days they avoided sleeping on the platform where the female had died, even though it was normally a favoured sleeping spot, and remained subdued for some time after the death. Chimpanzees are considered an endangered species with only 150,000 thought to be still living in the wild. The researchers said watching the footage was extremely moving and may change our understanding of how our closest evolutionary relatives deal with death. “I think what we know now, that chimpanzees probably have a greater awareness of death than many people thought,” said professor Jim Anderson. Here you can watch when three adult chimpanzees gather around the elderly chimpanzee as she dies peacefully.

The soul is present in the heart of the living entity. The energy of the soul is spread all over the body, and this is known as consciousness. The difference between man and other living beings is due to the development of consciousness. But a greater or lesser extent, the consciousness of death, pains and pleasures, always exists within all living entities.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

According to modern biology, biodiversity is due to a genetic variation caused by the process of occasional chance mutation. However, according to Vedanta, the law of karma and the three modes of material nature - sattva, rajas and tamas - are responsible for biodiversity as well as for diversity in terms of levels of intelligence, degree of development of mind and consciousness of the embodied being within the same species. Furthermore, the Vedas state that biodiversity is a process to accommodate the various states of consciousness in different life forms. ... This conception is beyond the scope of modern biological science. ... It is the consciousness that evolves, not the bodies, in the Vedantic tradition.

Singh, T. D. - Sripada Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami
"Hinduism and Science"
"Biodiversity and Evolution of Consciousness"
Bhaktivedanta Institute
The Hare Krishna Views On Science
http://www.krishnascience.com