I was wondering if there are animals that care for their sick. I would think that this does not happen often (if ever) in the wild because caring for the sick or injured would endanger other members of the pack, and over the long-term threaten the continued survival of the group. What animals do care for the sick?
Elephants.
ETA - Discovery Channel is my cite.
I know a lioness tried to take care of a sick baby oryx once.
Yes, elephants. I saw a special on PBS once that went so far as to say they even mourn the death of one of their own. Fascinating.
Some dinosaurs did care for their injured. I can’t remember the cite but the basic finding was that females of a certain species (I think it was Triceratops) often received severe spinal injuries during mating. But the specimens they found had healed inuries. They would have been unable to care for themselves during their convalescence and so must have been cared for by others.
I seem to remember reading that several bird species, when sick or injured, will make calls that imitate those of a hatchling, and this would result in other birds feeding them, but I’m afraid I don’t remember any specifics.
Also saw that elephant documentary. I’ve also heard that elephants cry.
ETA: http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051031/elephant.html
Heck, my cat cares for ME when I’m sick or upset. She’s normally aloof, but when I’m not feeling well, she volunteers as my hot water bottle, massager and the softest Kleenex evah for my tears.
Or maybe she’s just testing me to see if I’m dead yet and she can start chowing down on my corpse. Hard to tell, really…
Not exactly caring for the sick, but a BBC documentary showed vampire bats feeding others that had gone hungry.
Dolphins are known to act as midwives to one another. I don’t know that labor always counts as “being sick”, but I know I’d rather have help then than when I have a case of the sniffles.
Is this a woosh?
Canada Goose. linky
Quote from the site: If one of a mated pair or a family member is injured, a goose will go down with the injured goose, and guard the injured goose until it recovers or dies.
I remember a few pictures online somewhere of a sick cat that was tended to by a deer - so I guess inter-species care exists. Here is the story: http://www.king5.com/animals/news/stories/NW_061306ANBcatand_deerSW.817a5913.html
The sociobiological argument for this type of caring behavior is that animals are likely to be closely related to others of their species that are nearby, and by helping those others live to mate and pass on their genes, it’s really the same genes that are getting passed on. So there are rationales for and against. I’d attribute interspecies care to instinctual caring behavior that gets imprinted on an inappropriate target.