Humans grieve when we lose someone, we also grieve when we lose a pet. Squirrels lose their family members all the time, but how do these animals react to this? Do squirrels grieve? This article looks into it.
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Do squirrels grieve?
Knowing whether squirrels grieve would imply that we could actually get into the heads of these animals and understand how they feel, unfortunately, we can’t do that yet.
All we can do is observe the animal’s behavior and draw conclusions from that.
Some squirrels will experience the death of their partner squirrel and will isolate themselves after the death. We aren’t too sure if this means that the animal is grieving or doing something else.
Because animals don’t show emotions as humans do, they may or may not be grieving.
Another idea is that squirrels become confused at the change and the new dynamic that exists when a squirrel they know dies.
When this happens, there is suddenly one less squirrel and the others don’t know how to react. The others may be waiting for the dead squirrel to come back, they may wait a while for this to happen.
Eventually, the squirrels that are left will get used to their new way of life, accept the situation, and move on with their lives.
Do squirrels understand death?
We don’t know whether squirrels understand death or not.
It is said that squirrels see their partner as their partner as long as they still look and smell like their partner, whether dead or not.
There have been sightings of squirrels dragging their partners away after they’ve been hit by cars, and sightings of squirrels keeping dead squirrels safe from predators.
But this does not confirm or deny that these animals understand death or understand that their relative/friend is dead
These animals are inclined to protect their relatives and friends, this is likely what the squirrel is doing when it drags its partner away or keeps them from predators.
Whether they know that the partner is dead or not is anyone’s guess.
Do squirrels bury their dead?
Squirrels don’t bury their dead, these animals are known to bury foods like nuts and vegetables, but they do not bury their dead.
A squirrel may even eat the body of a dead squirrel on occasion, but it won’t bury the animal.
These animals will not pass up on a source of easy protein, they are both omnivores and scavengers and will eat another squirrel as long as the squirrel is not a family member or a friend.
Ground squirrels are more known to eat the bodies of dead squirrels, other types of squirrels aren’t known to do this. That being said, ground squirrels will likely only do this if there is a food shortage.
If a live squirrel doesn’t come along and eat the dead squirrel, then the squirrel will be left for other animals, like coyotes, foxes, hawks, whales, bobcats, and badgers to eat.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we as humans can’t be sure whether squirrels grieve or not. We cannot get into the squirrel’s head and thus cannot truly know what these animals are thinking when another squirrel dies.
In some cases, it does seem as though the squirrel is grieving, however, some squirrels eat the carcasses of other squirrels, it doesn’t seem like the animal is grieving in this case.
These animals do not bury their dead. If they don’t eat the dead squirrel, then the body will be left for a predator to eat.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other squirrel related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: How To Train A Squirrel To Use A Litter Box, How To Train A Squirrel To Not Bite