Death of a Mouse

Yesterday, my pet mouse Snatch died. I noticed that she was ill Friday afternoon. She had crammed herself tightly into a corner of the cage she shares with her sister Patch, and she was breathing quite heavily. I'd never seen her behave this way before, and it was clear to me that she was sick. It was clear to Patch also. She would run nervously around the cage as if looking for something and then return and lick her sister's face and ears. Sometime during the night, Patch dragged the bits of paper towels (which I had previously placed in their cage to allow them to make a nest) out of their little wooden house and made a snug little nest around her dying sister. When I left for my Saturday morning class, Patch was snuggled up against her dying sister and was still there when I returned in the afternoon to find that Snatch had died. I love animals, but I'm not particularly sentimental about them. I grew up on a farm and learned early that pets will sooner or later die. What I wasn't prepared for was the obvious concern and care one mouse could feel for another. It was very touching and left me wondering what goes on in the mind of an animal. What is death to a mouse? Is it the mystery to mice that it is to man? Do they know something we don't? And if they do know something, is it something we too can learn?