ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2018
Comparative thanatology, an integrative approach: exploring sensory/cognitive aspects of death recognition in vertebrates and invertebrates.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- On the nature of grief: uncovering the evolutionary roots of loss across the animal realm.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2026Review
- Post-mortem infant-directed behaviours in wild Guinea baboons.Primates; journal of primatology · 2026Article
- Article
- Mating Attempts and Sustained Interest Behaviors of Wild Boars (Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Unveiling animal death cognition: the role of social systems.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Responses to dying and dead adult companions in a free-ranging, provisioned group of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).Primates; journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Camera Traps Document Infant Corpse Carrying Behaviour in Multiple Unhabituated Chimpanzee Populations.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The Impact of Termiticides on Termite Corpse Management.Insects · 2025Article
- Necrophilic behaviour in wild stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Seeing life in the teeming world: animacy perception in arthropods.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Behavioral responses of wild chimpanzees toward a juvenile that suddenly lost its animacy due to a fall accident.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Record of thanatology and cannibalism in drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus).Primates; journal of primatology · 2023Article
- Reactions to a dead adult female in Japanese macaques at Arashiyama: Why did a non-affiliated female groom the corpse?Primates; journal of primatology · 2023Article
- Life and death of a disabled wild capuchin monkey infant.Primates; journal of primatology · 2023Article
- Good case studies reveal something important.Primates; journal of primatology · 2022Article
- Dead-infant carrying by chimpanzee mothers in the Budongo Forest.Primates; journal of primatology · 2022Article
- Viewing the rare through public lenses: insights into dead calf carrying and other thanatological responses in Asian elephants using YouTube videos.Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Maternal caretaking behavior towards a dead juvenile in a wild, multi-level primate society.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Staring death in the face: chimpanzees' attention towards conspecific skulls and the implications of a face module guiding their behaviour.Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) grieve over the loss of a conspecific.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Evolutionary thanatology benefits from broad taxonomic comparisons of non-human animals' responses to death. Furthermore, exploring the sensory and cognitive bases of these responses promises to allow classification of the underlying mechanisms on a spectrum from phylogenetically ancient to more derived traits. We draw on studies of perception and cognition in invertebrate and vertebrate taxa (with a focus on arthropods, corvids, proboscids, cetaceans and primates) to explore the cues that these animals use to detect life and death in others, and discuss proximate and ultimate drivers behind their capacities to do so. Parallels in thanatological behaviour exhibited by the last four taxa suggest similar sensory-cognitive processing rules for dealing with corpses, the evolution of which may have been driven by complex social environments. Uniting these responses is a phenomenon we term 'animacy detection malfunction', whereupon the corpse, having both animate and inanimate attributes, creates states of fear/curiosity manifested as approach/avoidance behaviours in observers. We suggest that integrating diverse lines of evidence (including the 'uncanny valley' effect originating from the field of robotics) provides a promising way to advance the field, and conclude by proposing avenues for future research.This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.