The Cycle of Life

I've been wondering ever since last night when we witnessed first hand a part of nature that is amazing and yet sad, if animals can move on after loosing their little ones. When a mother dog or cat have their babies taken from them, do they mourn the loss? When an aged animal dies, do other animals that knew it, feel the loss, too.

Last night, a mother grizzly and her two cubs killed a baby elk. The mother elk chased back and forth for quite some time after the baby was taken down. Everyone was in awe with this natural thing of nature and it was pretty fun seeing the baby cubs. But I couldn't help wonder if the mother elk hurt badly inside by her heart.

This morning we ran into a man (Jim)we met a couple of days ago as we were looking for wolves. We told him about our grizzly experience and I told him how I wondered about the animals' feelings. He referred me to a book "The Emotional Feelings of Animals" by Marc Beckoff (I hope this is right). Jim said that evidence shows that animals do have feelings and they have their way of showing respect for the dead. I thought, perhaps, this is a subject that parents could explore and teach their children about. Just a suggestion. I know I want to gain perspective.