Cockatoo 'funeral' photo shows how birds mourn their dead

[TootsieFootsie]

Cockatoo 'funeral' photo shows how birds mourn their dead

A crackle of cockatoos have been snapped in a haunting image appearing to mourn one of their dead.

The photo, taken outside Minerva School in Sydney's south, shows a white cockatoo flattened in the middle of a suburban intersection -with a flock of its fellows evenly spaced out like mourners at funeral watching on from above while perched on electricity wires that line the street.

 

[doublestop]

I've seen that kind of thing with meadowlarks. One gets killed in the road, and several more come stand around the body. (And then they get hit, too, sadly.)

 

[LadyL]

I've seen mourning behaviour from so many different animals.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I probably shouldn't have posted it in the news that makes you smile.
I just couldn't think of where else.

And it is nice that they care about their fellow cockatoos and mourn and honour them.

 

[keptbycats]

It reminds me of videos I've watched of the way elephants mourn when they come across a dead elephant. It's somewhere between heartbreaking and extremely touching to watch.

 

[scandinavian girl]

I saw this with a flock of magpies, they stood in a circle and one by one walked up to him and it was obvious they said goodbye, took approximately 20 minutes and I watched it all in awe.