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woxys β Do not deny it............
Published: 2010-07-01 21:13:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 10355; Favourites: 433; Downloads: 213
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Description
Pair of Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica, lev persky) from ZOO Nuremberg, Germany
Story of the title: the female gave birth to a baby, who unfortunately died only few days (hours?) before my visit. I know that I humanize them and that it is wrong (because for wild animals, it is normal to lose their babies - the mortality in the wild is very high), but to me, the lioness seemed somehow sad. She was pacing through the exhibit, while the male was sleeping. Then she got close to him and he lifted his head and they were looking at each other - as I watched them, a famous cliche scene from movies came to my mind.
It was like that well-know and millions times seen TV situation, when the pair, man and woman, must deal with the loss of their child and both of them have different way how to overcome it. So the woman is active, while the man is passive - and after she gest angry, she comes to the couch, where he is passively watching TV and she starts to shout ,,What the hell are you doing? Do you want to spend life on this stupid couch? Just... admit it! He is gone! He is gone! ADMIT IT!"
Stupid humanizing, I know... but it really came to my mind
Thank you for your comments and faves
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INFO ABOUT THE ANIMAL:
Name: Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica)
Location: Gir Forest National Park in western India
Size: 3 m long body (females are smaller) weight: 190 Kg (females are lighter)
Diet: deers, antelopes, wild boars, buffalos...
Conservation status: Critically Endangered
Interesting facts: Lions are the only big cats who gather in groups. Packs of Asiatic lions have less members than packs of African lions | there are only some 360 Asiatic lions. Fortunately, their numbers are slowly rising thanks to protection | lioness gives birth to 6 cubs. Babies are spotted | ZOOs are encouraged to keep rather Asiatic lions than African lions. It is due conservations efforts | Asiatic lions are still killed by people, who want to protect their cattle
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Comments: 98
he is like: "what is your problem, woman??" ;D
great shot
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Well, I've seen footages of a lioness looking for their dead sons, calling and looking for them for three weeks. I can call that denial. I don't think that they are so used to it, while they are faster at recovery, it takes them a certain amount of timeβ¦
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I don't see what wrong with a little bit of humanizing. I find it ridiculous to think that animals can't possibly have emotions. Sure animals don't always show emotions in the same way humans do because they're not humans, but sometimes they do. Why does that mean they don't have the same ones? Animals and humans are not so different as everybody thinks. I've witnessed loads of instances in my horses and dogs that I thought couldn't possible come from an animal, but it did, and it was a behavior that would be something close to what I would do in that situation.
Who's to say she didn't know her baby was gone? You don't have to be able to make tools and build houses to know when something's dead or gone.
Poor mother. :C That's life though.
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I don't think people give enough credit to the morality and decency of animals; that is to say that they don't humanize them enough. Perhaps this does or does not count for wild animals, but I know my current dog and the ones before him were very in tune with not just the feelings of humans but those of our cats also.
A while ago, when our cat got run over on my way to school (she was gray and white and blended in almost perfectly with our gravel driveway) our dog then carried her to the side of the house and laid down beside her, until we had time to finally bury her.
Our current cat actually allowed our dog to take care of her kittens. He bathed them, and brought them toys, and when they were hungry, he would find the mom and bring her back to her kittens.
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aww, so touching
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I don't think attributing that kind of feeling to them is too wrong...not that I've seen it in person, but I did see on a documentary a lioness kind of cradling and bathing her recently dead cub. In my experience with animals they do seem to get really distressed when they lose a baby or even just another animal that they spent a lot of time with...even my mom's stupid little Chihuahua and Pomeranian get upset if they're separated for more than ten minutes.
Anyway - long story short...nothing wrong humanizing them somewhat. I tend to think they're more capable of emotion than we know.
But also - you captured this moment so perfectly! They way you can see the muscle and tendons tensed in her leg...it's such a sad moment, but you captured it amazingly.
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poor mother i know someone who had a lil boy and he died from SIDS
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yeah but she's a very strong woman, she learned from it and headed this years walk for babys marothon. and is now in charge of a lot of things to help out mothers who have also lost their children. I'm proud of her, i would be in a terrible state.
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i simply love the way you write the coment,i know either that it's wrong about wild animals,but we are humans and we fell sorry about ,and they feel it too of course on they way,but they feel ,thanks for all amazing pictures and wonderfull coments on it
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aww! It's always sad when a baby dies...Like how sometimes when kittens get adopted, their mother paces and looks for them for like a week? Poor mama lion...The dad looks as if he's saying "I know, I'm sorry." Like, he's trying to make her feel better
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well, I hope she comes around...The loss of a child is always sad, no matter what species.
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humanize away in that case wont catch me judging you
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I believe animals are capable of just the same amount of emotion as humans. We are, in fact, just big fancy animals ourselves, biologically speaking. I had a homeless kitten bring her sick brother to us after a few weeks of feeding her on our proch. Her brother was already too sick, but we took care of them and cleaned them up and gave them a comfortable place to live. When he was gone, his sister ran around crying for him, and after a while, just left home. It's sad, but I always use it to prove to people that animals can feel just like we do. Except they're more honest about it.
I really like how you captured this one little moment in time. It really says a lot. You really feel bad for the mother, with her flattened ears and scrunched brow. Beautiful shot.
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do not lie to me! What you have done is wrong! And do not deny it!
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do not lie to me! What you have done is wrong! And do not deny it!
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Monkeys are sad when they lose a baby. They drag the dead body around for weeks. So why not, I think animals have feelings like that...
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We'll never know what goes inside their heads woxys so your guess is as good as any. Nice shot like always.
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Aw, that's sad. It's normal for animals to mourn dead offspring, though. All the horses I've known that have lost a foal will scream into the night for the first day, and some don't seem to get over it for a while. They know they've lost somthing, even though the death rates are higher. It's like when we lose a child- doesn't matter what the rates were, still lost the baby.
Love the expression on the male's face.
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I also see it like that
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Um, Did you notice the Lioness is on the Lion's tail?
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I wouldn't say anthropomorphism is wrong, you just need to know when to use it and when not to. In this case, I'd say it's perfectly appropriate. Although humans do tend to anthropomorphise at things which are inappropriate, the loss of offspring is not one. All mothers notice when their child dies.
Elephants have been filmed carrying the body of their calf after it has died for significant periods of time. Birds will often flock to the place they last saw their chick if it goes missing.
Despite what people think, animals do have much deeper emotions than we give them credit for, it's just usually that we misunderstand their behaviour. So whilst perhaps the anthropomorphism of the relationships between the two adults is a little farfetched, the lioness will certainly be mourning the death of her cub. And as somebody doing a degree in Animal Behaviour, I think I can say that with some certainty.
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Though death is quite common in the wild animal world, I do believe wild animals can mourn and feel sad about their loss. They probably 'get over it' quicker, because they don't have much of a choice if they want to survive, but it really doesn't stop them from feeling anything at all.
That's just my theory, though. :9
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yes, I would agree with that
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This is a really moving picture. And animals absolutely mourn the loss of their babies, even if it happens often. Some even get depressed and wont eat or do things they should. I LOVE lions, and I love the pictures you take. They are beautiful and, albeit cliche, majestic. Keep up the good work!
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