Death. Does it really matter when or is it just superficial?(only important to us)

[We Never Know]

We all die. Everything we know eventually dies. Do you think any other species worry about dying? Or living to an old age?

Do you think the wolf worries about living to be 15? Or the chimpanzees worry about living to be 35?

Does a lion fear dying while chasing down a water buffalo?

Does meeting the grin reaper only install fear in humans or do other species have the fear of dying?

 

[sun rise]

Other species clearly want to live. Look at how prey avoid the predator. But worry? To me, that's human.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I wonder if elephants (as an example) worry about death. Certainly, they are capable of mourning those that are lost. I wonder if they can generalise that to an understanding that they all die one day (even if it's only in moments of death that this is considered).

How would we know?

But mostly I agree with @sun rise

 

[Deeje]

We all die. Everything we know eventually dies. Do you think any other species worry about dying? Or living to an old age?

Do you think the wolf worries about living to be 15? Or the chimpanzees worry about living to be 35?

Does a lion fear dying while chasing down a water buffalo?

Does meeting the grin reaper only install fear in humans or do other species have the fear of dying?

We humans are apparently the only species in existence who can contemplate their own death. That is because we are unique in being able to imagine things in our mind as a possible outcome in the future. Animals live in the present, without a concept of what will happen down the track.They do not have imagination.....they deal with what is, not what might be.

Elephants and other animals that live in family 'troupes' have a natural sense of family and will apparently mourn the death of a member, but I do not believe that they can contemplate death in advance of the event. All animals have a "fight or flight" response to danger, but I do not believe that it include consciousness of impending death. Even getting old and slowing down is a gradual but natural process that seems to be taken in stride.

Humans have mirrors to see themselves getting old but animals do not. I hate mirrors.

From the Bible's perspective, we are the only species who were promised everlasting life in our mortal flesh. So to contemplate death for ourselves and our loved ones is a serious and depressing thought. Even getting old or sick does not sit well with us because it was never supposed to be in our experience.....our programming is still an expectation to stay young and never die.....and yet no one has ever experienced it.

We also have a pre-conceived idea of where we would like to live....our own vision of paradise is where we may go even for a short vacation if we can afford it, but paradise is soon ruined by people who are thoughtless, greedy or just plain selfish.

That makes sense to me....

 

[RestlessSoul]

Animals feel fear when a threat to life appears. Does this mean they consciously fear death? Who knows?

Maybe we are the only species that knows we are all destined to die. It's quite amazing that we do know that, really. It gives us a good reason to evaluate our lives.

This verse from The Dhammapada springs to mind;

Yellow leaves hang on your tree of life. The messengers of death are waiting. You are going to travel far away. Have you any provision for the journey?


Which in turn reminds me of this, Byron's last poem before he died in Greece at the age of 36;

 

[Twilight Hue]

Ever see a herd stop running once a kill is made?


They stop and start eating grass again.

 

[Trailblazer]

Does meeting the grin reaper only install fear in humans or do other species have the fear of dying?

I think it is instinctual for animals to want to live as long as possible and I have seen it in my cats, but I do not believe that any animals other than humans are consciously aware of death and I am quite sure they have no conception of an afterlife, as humans do. I believe animals have some kind of afterlife but I am not counting on it, and even if that do, that does not mean we will see our pets in the afterlife. Even if I never saw them I would be content to know they lived on, if I could ever know that....

 

[Aupmanyav]

Do you think any other species worry about dying? Or living to an old age?
Does meeting the grin reaper only install fear in humans or do other species have the fear of dying?

Death and old age, both, have their problems, but we cannot do much about it. Why worry about them even before they appear? If death is not preceded by any illness, then those people are fortunate, for example, a cardiac arrest. Some people pass away in their sleep. Probability, chance, etc.
Yeah, beings of other species know death, they see their colleagues die and get eaten by predators. They will always try to escape. A tiger attack is not a pleasant thing. This person was left with serious arm injury.

 

[Brian2]

We all die. Everything we know eventually dies. Do you think any other species worry about dying? Or living to an old age?

Do you think the wolf worries about living to be 15? Or the chimpanzees worry about living to be 35?

Does a lion fear dying while chasing down a water buffalo?

Does meeting the grin reaper only install fear in humans or do other species have the fear of dying?

No doubt other species fear injury. Whether a fear of death is present is another question.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Death and old age, both, have their problems, but we cannot do much about it. Why worry about them even before they appear? If death is not preceded by any illness, then those people are fortunate, for example, a cardiac arrest. Some people pass away in their sleep. Probability, chance, etc.
Yeah, beings of other species know death, they see their colleagues die and get eaten by predators. They will always try to escape. A tiger attack is not a pleasant thing. This person was left with serious arm injury.

What a magnificent creature though.

Tyger, tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

[Viker]

We all die. Everything we know eventually dies. Do you think any other species worry about dying? Or living to an old age?

Do you think the wolf worries about living to be 15? Or the chimpanzees worry about living to be 35?

Does a lion fear dying while chasing down a water buffalo?

Does meeting the grin reaper only install fear in humans or do other species have the fear of dying?

Other animals, even insects, appear to have a fear of dying.


They appear to not have a concept of aging, life span, etc. This last part is just my observation. I really can't say 100%.

The Reaper spares no one and everything knows.

 

[SigurdReginson]

Hmmmm... I would assume such a thought process would require the ability to think abstractly, retain memories longer, and the ability to live longer lives and assimilate more knowledge of concepts such as "dying due to old age" or "dying due to risky behavior." There are some animals that tick these boxes; some birds come to mind, as well as some primates. Do they think about these things? I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if they did, though.

I wonder how biologists could test such a concept? It might be possible, but I have to wonder how humane it would be to throw animals into stressful situations just to "collect data."

 

[Secret Chief]

That is because we are unique in being able to imagine things in our mind as a possible outcome in the future. Animals live in the present, without a concept of what will happen down the track.They do not have imagination.....they deal with what is, not what might be.

I disagree. Advanced sentient beings must be able to plan for the future and consider options, how else could a predator plan and carry out an attack (a future event) ?
Other animals certainly have imagination and consider what might be. For example if I or my partner do things at the "wrong" time (certain domestic stuff) the cats suspect (correctly) that there is an impending visit to the vets and take appropriate evasive and specific action. If we saw that type of response in humans we would conclude (correctly) they have imagined a possible outcome and acted based upon what might be.

 

[We Never Know]

Other species clearly want to live. Look at how prey avoid the predator. But worry? To me, that's human.

That's fight or flight, instinct. If its different run. For example you can be walking through the woods, come across a deer and it runs even if you have no desire to kill it.

 

[We Never Know]

Ever see a herd stop running once a kill is made?


They stop and start eating grass again.

They don't stop running because a kill was made. They stop running because they are no longer being chased. They do the same if a kill was not made and the predator gives up.

 

[Twilight Hue]

No doubt other species fear injury. Whether a fear of death is present is another question.

I'm pretty sure they know they can be killed.

Some keep a watch out for predators so I'm pretty sure there is a type of sense for mortality.

 

[We Never Know]

No doubt other species fear injury. Whether a fear of death is present is another question.

I wonder if they fear injury. This snow leopards falls of the mountain with a goat but never lets go through the 400 foot tumble.

 

[We Never Know]

I'm pretty sure they know they can be killed.

Some keep a watch out for predators so I'm pretty sure there is a type of sense for mortality.

When a fly flies away when you raise the fly swatter, does it fly away because it fears death?

 

[SigurdReginson]

I wonder if they fear injury. This snow leopards falls of the mountain with a goat but never lets go through the 400 foot tumble.

Predator instinct. Anyone who's hunted has experienced this. When you are hunting, you become hyper focused on the task, and you experience serious tunnel vision. Adrenaline rushes are similar, as is going into shock. Parts of your thought process and physical experiences (such as experiencing pain) are temporarily suspended until the event passes.

 

[RestlessSoul]

I wonder if they fear injury. This snow leopards falls of the mountain with a goat but never lets go through the 400 foot tumble.

Probably it fears going hungry, even more than it fears getting hurt in the fall.

If that cat hasn't eaten for days, it can't afford to use all that energy hunting, and come up empty.