Pets grieve too

[Catherine]

I can picture birds having funerals. I have seen Robins(North American Robins, a type of Thrush) gathering to mourn.
It was late last summer after the babies were flying. A Red Tailed Hawk got a Robin baby in front of its parents. They started the most heart wrenching cries. They knew their baby was gone. Their cries brought the other Robins, 10-20 of them. They gathered in a large lilac bush together and lamented all afternoon. The flock was sharing the parents grief and expressing it with sad cries.
It is so like people gathering when word of a death gets around.

How is it that anyone doubts that animals have emotions. I can understand studying them to learn more, but they often present studies as if they are surprized to discover animal have emotions. They have complex emotional lives.
Grief is a basic emotional expression and I think we would be surprized at how many animals grieve.

I think calling bird funerals a survival instinct is a desperate attempt to show that animals don't feel. It just doesn't make sense.