I think what the OP was saying (along the lines of the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis) that since their language is relatively (significantly? I don't know much about

I think what the OP was saying (along the lines of the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis) that since their language is relatively (significantly? I don't know much about whale communication) limited that this limitation in the ability to express such things as lonliness in their "language" limits their ability to conceptualize abstract concepts like loneliness. I agree that comparing bees to whales is... probably not too useful. I guess (again, if you buy Sapir-Wharf) if they have some way to verbalizing / internally verbalizing feelings like loneliness, it's quite possible that they have the cognitive / emotional bandwidth to "feel" it.