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Weeping whales: Stillborn humpback whale grieving documented

243 points · 192 comments · wglb

  1. georgemcbay · · focus · HN ↗
    Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal.

    Sure, we've got them beat on language and planning, but we're currently in the process of being passed up on both those fronts by multi-dimensional arrays of floating point numbers sitting inside of sand. So, like, how special is that then, really?

    1. sethammons · · focus · HN ↗
      We should start from the default assumption that other animals have a lived experience not unlike our own until proven otherwise.

      Mammal brains are similar between species. Show me why they wont behave like ours. Most say who say animals can't grieve are in the same boat with those who used to say human babies don't feel pain.

      Every time we look deeper, we find we humans are less special in any given quality. Yes, humans seem unique in our level of language and knowledge passing. For now; until we discover something else.

      Here is a studying on rats. They grieve. Brain, chemical, and social activity. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC12244160&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC12244160&#x2F;

      1. Kim_Bruning · · focus · HN ↗
        &gt; We should start from the default assumption that other animals have a lived experience not unlike our own until proven otherwise.

        That probably is the better prior for muggles these days, yeah.

        Of course, scientifically speaking, you still shouldn&#x27;t anthropomorphize upfront, or you might actually miss a lot! Different creatures aren&#x27;t entirely exactly the same as us. They can &lt;see&gt; and &lt;do&gt; things we can&#x27;t , and vice versa. So even just from that their lived reality will diverge from ours, and that&#x27;s where all the interesting science is hiding.

        That said, while you shouldn&#x27;t necessarily anthropomorphize upfront; if there&#x27;s later proven to be a behavioral overlap, then proven is proven, and you don&#x27;t get to reject it afterwards. (People often get this one wrong.)

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