Depends on how narrow you want to define religion-like behavior. Rats and pigeons in Skinner boxes can develop repetitive habits when food is dropped at random times. They associate the behavior with food being dropped down, and since it’s irregular they keep on doing the behavior in hopes the next action will bring food.
Elephants, and a few other animals, have funerals for their dead and even visit there places of death in some cases regularly. Beliefs about death rituals are a big part of religions so there might be something there.
I guess the closest you could say is chimpanzees. They’ve been observed performing strange ritualistic “dances” when they see waterfalls. Dr. Jane Goodall has mentioned how she sees it as the seeds of religious thought, the “awe” of something bigger than themselves.
The more intelligent animals have shown some burial rituals like covering a dead body or congregating together around the body. Not that funerals are necessarily religious, but they can be. That’s the only thing I can think of.
Marriage is one of the most ingrained religions tenets to the point that even those who are atheist and anti-religious understand its significance and embrace it.
We see monogamy in many, many animal species complete with ritualistic and often complex mating ceremonies that initiate the life-long bond.
I saw probably 30 boxelder bugs or more in a complete circle, basically shoulder to shoulder around a dead boxelder bug like 20 years ago on my aunts porch. I remember thinking they looked like they were holding hands. I watched for quite a while and touched one and they all scattered. Felt bad after thinking that had to be some sort of bug religious ceremony. Strange. Never saw it again but figured it would be worth posting here in case anyone else has seen anything like that. I’ve been telling people about it since then. It definitely stood out
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Nope
Depends on how narrow you want to define religion-like behavior. Rats and pigeons in Skinner boxes can develop repetitive habits when food is dropped at random times. They associate the behavior with food being dropped down, and since it’s irregular they keep on doing the behavior in hopes the next action will bring food.
I’d argue this is more akin to gambling, though.
Ants do this, a kid with a magnifying glass is essentially God smiting them from their perspective
Elephants, and a few other animals, have funerals for their dead and even visit there places of death in some cases regularly. Beliefs about death rituals are a big part of religions so there might be something there.
I guess the closest you could say is chimpanzees. They’ve been observed performing strange ritualistic “dances” when they see waterfalls. Dr. Jane Goodall has mentioned how she sees it as the seeds of religious thought, the “awe” of something bigger than themselves.
I still think that’s a bit of a stretch.
Alligators do this thing where they rest on land and open their mouths wide. Not sure why they do it.
The more intelligent animals have shown some burial rituals like covering a dead body or congregating together around the body. Not that funerals are necessarily religious, but they can be. That’s the only thing I can think of.
Crows have something like a funeral when one of their own dies.
Elephants have some wild funeral-like behavior — like standing around the bones of their dead.
Not religion, but definitely something beyond instinct.
Marriage is one of the most ingrained religions tenets to the point that even those who are atheist and anti-religious understand its significance and embrace it.
We see monogamy in many, many animal species complete with ritualistic and often complex mating ceremonies that initiate the life-long bond.
Crows and other corvids have funerals and shit or their closest approximation anyways
I saw probably 30 boxelder bugs or more in a complete circle, basically shoulder to shoulder around a dead boxelder bug like 20 years ago on my aunts porch. I remember thinking they looked like they were holding hands. I watched for quite a while and touched one and they all scattered. Felt bad after thinking that had to be some sort of bug religious ceremony. Strange. Never saw it again but figured it would be worth posting here in case anyone else has seen anything like that. I’ve been telling people about it since then. It definitely stood out