RESPONSES OF ANIMALS TO PERMANENT LOSS  OF A FAMILIAR INDIVIDUAL

LETICIA FANUCCHI

Pet owners often ask about what to do when one pet dies and another remains in the household, perceived by the owners to be suffering from the loss. There are anecdotes of grief-like reactions in various mammalian and avian species, not only in the wild but also involving domestic animals. No empirical study provides irrefutable evidence of grief in non-human animals, encompassing human understanding of what grief comprises. However, the study of behavioral and physiological reactions to social loss offers to improve understanding of the affective experiences of animals in the face of loss. This thesis starts with a review of documented observations of animal behavior around the time of social loss, and presents evidence of commonalities in behavioral responses across multiple taxa. A systematic survey of owners of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) about their perceptions of their dog’s behavior after the loss of a long-term dog companion, or in a control condition involving no social loss, revealed specific symptoms of separation distress in response to loss, sometimes involving a depressed state. A “brief separation” paradigm was used to explore social attachment between unrelated adult dogs living together for at least a year in the same household. On average, dogs showed separation distress symptoms when their familiar canine companion was absent, but recovered upon being reunited. In a laboratory animal model, domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) responded strongly to being separated from peers, entering an inactive “depressive” state in prolonged separation, but also recovering upon reunion. Collectively, the evidence that these animals are equipped with mechanisms that trigger emotional responses when social loss or separation occurs is consistent with the hypothesis that grief is a phenomenon possible to be experienced by non-human animals. Given that attachments can be formed to objects as well as living beings, comprehension of the concept of death is unessential for grief-like responses in animals. Although it remains uncertain how losses are experienced at a cognitive level, this thesis contributes to knowledge of how domestic animals react to loss of peers with whom they are housed, which is relevant to decisions regarding animal care.

RESPONSES OF ANIMALS TO PERMANENT LOSS OF A FAMILIAR INDIVIDUAL

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