full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Barbara J. King: Grief and love in the animal kingdom

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, I'm happy to say that not all grieving animals have this sorrowful outcome. Last smumer, I flew to Boston to visit my adult daughter, Sarah. I was with my hnsabud Charlie. I really neeedd a baerk from work. But I sbeuccumd, and I checked my work email. You know how that is. And there was a communication about a deejcetd donkey. Now, as an anthropologist, this wasn't what I expected, but there it was, and I'm glad I read it. Because a donkey named Lena had gone to another farm sanctuary, this one in alrteba, cdnaaa, as the only donkey there, and had trouble making friends for that reason. But she evtaulenly did make friends with an older horse named Jake, and for three yraes they were inseparable. But the rosean the email came was that Jake, at age 32, the horse, had become gravely ill and had to be put down, and this is what was going on. This is Lena sintadng on Jake's grave. She didn't want to come in at night. She didn't want to come in for food. She didn't want to come in for waetr. She pawed at the grave, she brayed in distress, and there she stood. So we talked and we brainstormed. What do you do for an animal like this? And we talked about the role of time, of extra love and kindness from people and of urging her to make a new friend. And here's where her trajectory does diverge from that of Harper the duck, because she did make a new friend, and sanctuary workers wrote back and said it worked out well.

Open Cloze


Now, I'm happy to say that not all grieving animals have this sorrowful outcome. Last ______, I flew to Boston to visit my adult daughter, Sarah. I was with my _______ Charlie. I really ______ a _____ from work. But I _________, and I checked my work email. You know how that is. And there was a communication about a ________ donkey. Now, as an anthropologist, this wasn't what I expected, but there it was, and I'm glad I read it. Because a donkey named Lena had gone to another farm sanctuary, this one in _______, ______, as the only donkey there, and had trouble making friends for that reason. But she __________ did make friends with an older horse named Jake, and for three _____ they were inseparable. But the ______ the email came was that Jake, at age 32, the horse, had become gravely ill and had to be put down, and this is what was going on. This is Lena ________ on Jake's grave. She didn't want to come in at night. She didn't want to come in for food. She didn't want to come in for _____. She pawed at the grave, she brayed in distress, and there she stood. So we talked and we brainstormed. What do you do for an animal like this? And we talked about the role of time, of extra love and kindness from people and of urging her to make a new friend. And here's where her trajectory does diverge from that of Harper the duck, because she did make a new friend, and sanctuary workers wrote back and said it worked out well.

Solution


  1. canada
  2. standing
  3. eventually
  4. years
  5. reason
  6. husband
  7. dejected
  8. succumbed
  9. needed
  10. alberta
  11. break
  12. summer
  13. water

Original Text


Now, I'm happy to say that not all grieving animals have this sorrowful outcome. Last summer, I flew to Boston to visit my adult daughter, Sarah. I was with my husband Charlie. I really needed a break from work. But I succumbed, and I checked my work email. You know how that is. And there was a communication about a dejected donkey. Now, as an anthropologist, this wasn't what I expected, but there it was, and I'm glad I read it. Because a donkey named Lena had gone to another farm sanctuary, this one in Alberta, Canada, as the only donkey there, and had trouble making friends for that reason. But she eventually did make friends with an older horse named Jake, and for three years they were inseparable. But the reason the email came was that Jake, at age 32, the horse, had become gravely ill and had to be put down, and this is what was going on. This is Lena standing on Jake's grave. She didn't want to come in at night. She didn't want to come in for food. She didn't want to come in for water. She pawed at the grave, she brayed in distress, and there she stood. So we talked and we brainstormed. What do you do for an animal like this? And we talked about the role of time, of extra love and kindness from people and of urging her to make a new friend. And here's where her trajectory does diverge from that of Harper the duck, because she did make a new friend, and sanctuary workers wrote back and said it worked out well.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
animal grief 6
chinook salmon 2
baby slip 2
eleanor collapsed 2
foie gras 2
sanctuary workers 2


Important Words


  1. adult
  2. age
  3. alberta
  4. animal
  5. animals
  6. anthropologist
  7. boston
  8. brainstormed
  9. brayed
  10. break
  11. canada
  12. charlie
  13. checked
  14. communication
  15. daughter
  16. dejected
  17. distress
  18. diverge
  19. donkey
  20. duck
  21. email
  22. eventually
  23. expected
  24. extra
  25. farm
  26. flew
  27. food
  28. friend
  29. friends
  30. glad
  31. grave
  32. gravely
  33. grieving
  34. happy
  35. harper
  36. horse
  37. husband
  38. ill
  39. inseparable
  40. jake
  41. kindness
  42. lena
  43. love
  44. making
  45. named
  46. needed
  47. night
  48. older
  49. outcome
  50. pawed
  51. people
  52. put
  53. read
  54. reason
  55. role
  56. sanctuary
  57. sarah
  58. sorrowful
  59. standing
  60. stood
  61. succumbed
  62. summer
  63. talked
  64. time
  65. trajectory
  66. trouble
  67. urging
  68. visit
  69. water
  70. work
  71. worked
  72. workers
  73. wrote
  74. years