Do Squirrels Know They Are Going to Die?

Of all creatures on Earth, humans are the only ones who are aware of their own mortality. As far as we know, that is.

We assume that we are the sole living beings who comprehend the inevitability of death, but really do we know that for a fact? With the vast biological knowledge and scientific research we human beings have done over the centuries we know almost nothing about the internal workings of the brains of other creatures. We can make guesses but we don't know for a certainty.

But the same can be said about ourselves. How much do we know for sure about the human brain? What makes us tick, as they say, is still very much a mystery. Oh sure, we've learned a great deal about molecules, cells, DNA, and other genetic structures within our bodies, we understand the physicality of animals, insects, fish, and plants. Animal anatomy has been nicely figured out. But why do we dream, what makes certain people act and react the way they do?

Medicine knows how to set bones, remove cancerous growths, and treat infections, but science can't tell us why a perfectly normal man on Monday morning can wake up on Tuesday morning and shoot up a gathering of people for no apparent reason at all. Yes, something "snapped" within the brain, something went haywire, but what exactly? And why?

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Our scientists and doctors are good at theorizing, they make educated guesses and surmise answers to questions given the facts at hand. But theorizing a thing as opposed to knowing something as a certainty are not the same thing.

We can assume certain things given what we witness. We know we will die someday. We know all living things in the world will die at some point. But when and how that will take place is unknown. That lovely flower in your garden will die eventually but you don't know if that will be tomorrow or next week. You can speed its death along by not watering it, but that's another thing altogether.

We humans all have a lifespan, but some live longer than others, sometimes by a lot. Who will be the lucky ones who die peacefully in their sleep at the age of 97 of 104? Who will be unfortunate enough to contract a disease and be dead at the age of 14? Who will be hit by a car and die at the age of 28? Nobody knows. And yet we do know that at some time or another we will definitely die.

Getting back to my original question, how do we know for a fact that other animals are not as keenly aware of their mortality as we are? Does a cat know its days are numbered? Does a dog know he only has a limited time on earth? What about insects, birds, fish, plants? Are these living things death conscious? How can we be sure they are not?

There's the secret elephant burial grounds. According to legend, the elephant knows when the end is near. Rather than trying to stick with the herd and potentially slowing them down, the elephant heads for the elephant graveyard. Here he can not only die in peace, but his descendants can easily locate him and visit his remains in the future.

Most of us don't live day by day with the idea that we are going to die at some time. We live with the knowledge of our mortality, but we go on with our normal activities; schooling, jobs, marriage, eating, sleeping, and so forth. Unless they specifically asked us, an observer from another planet, would assume we had no awareness of our ultimate fate. So, given that we cannot ask them directly, how do we know that our animal friends are not just as aware of their mortality? Can we be certain they are not?

There are many things that go unexplained when it comes to animals. We know dogs have keen senses and aptitudes that we cannot fully explain. Dogs, it is said, have an ability to detect internal diseases, such as cancer, in humans. They have an extraordinary ability to "sense" earthquakes and other phenomena before it happens. And police use so-called "cadaver dogs" to smell out the dead. Other animals have similar gifts that we humans simply do not possess.

So do squirrels know they are going to die? Well, maybe they do if they see a dog about to pounce on them. You know how squirrels "freeze" when a fast moving car is coming down the street at them? They don't even try to get away. Maybe at that moment they realize that the end is at hand, so they've accepted their fate, have made peace with their squirrel god, and are waiting for death.

Or maybe they're just stupid dumb squirrels.

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