Death in Animals

Yes, animals die, too. And plants. But we rarely consider that they must face, with their own minor or nonexistent understanding the end of life. They, too, undergo biological processes that lead to their eventual demise, thus making room for new improved versions of their kind.

Longest recorded life spans 

Shrew	2 yrs.
Rat	4 yrs.
Earthworm	10 yrs.
Rabbit	15 yrs.
Frog	20 yrs.
Dog	25 yrs.
Tern	27 yrs.
Cow	30 yrs.
Cat	30 yrs.
Gorilla	35 yrs.
Piegon	35 yrs.
Ostrich	40 yrs.
Herring gull	40 yrs.
Horse	45 yrs.
Hippopotamus	50 yrs.
Alligator	60 yrs.
Clam	60 yrs.
Halibut	70 yrs.
Indian elephant	77 yrs.
Eagle	80 yrs.
Parrot	85 yrs.
Sturgeon	100 yrs.
Vulture	117 yrs.
Giant Tortise	150 yrs.

Source: Life and Death

Human Responses to the Death of Animals 

Animals die just as humans do. The difference is that humans know they are going to die. This knowledge underpins our complex fears, rituals and responses to death. Animals may grieve for each other but as a rule their responses are short lived. The exceptions, the faithful dog refusing to leave its master's grave, make good stories but are at best rare. The debate over whether animals have a soul is beyond this site's scope (can an animal sin?) Prayers were conducted by Tibetan monks for chickens killed in Hong Kong during an avian flu scare. The ancient Egyptians even mummified animals to accompany their deceased royalty. Humans may grieve intently for their favoured animals, as the following versus indicate:

The sense of death is most in apprehesion,
And the poor beetle that we tread upon
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

He came from Malta; and Eumelus says
He had no better dog in all his days.
We called him Bull; he went into the dark.
Along these roads we cannot hear him bark.
Tymnes (2nd Century)

My old cat is dead
Who would me with his head.
He had the sleekest fur,
He had the blackest purr.
Always gentle with us
Was this black puss,
But when I found him today
Stiff and cold where he lay,
His look was a lion's,
Full of rage, defiance:
O! he would not pretend
That what came was a friend
But met it in pure hate.
Well died, my old cat.
Hal Summers

Though it will die soon
The voice of the cicada
Shows no sign of this.
Basho (1660)