Question: can animals cry ?

Kevin Mahon answered on 12 Jun 2012:

Many, many animala have tear ducts (like us) and can produce tears, but not all animals cry out of sadness – that is a very human behaviour. Tears have a physiological function (lubrication for the eye) but there is some evidence of non human animals ‘grieving’.

Apes and elephants are some examples. Particularly apes that have been paired with an individual for a long time – a sudden loss can cause them to become very distressed.

Elephants have a ‘death ritual’ (some say funeral) for when individuals pass on. It is a unique behaviour and the only non human examples are elephants and neanderthals (extinct). This is part of the very complex elephant social structure. Examples of their grieving include investigating bones.

Also on a side note – many animals do ‘wail’ or vocalise to convey negative emotional states – no tears per say but it could be considered to be something like crying !