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I don't believe, though, that the awareness of death leads to the awareness of life, Zaqarbal. I see much evidence that animals, like human children, can be very aware of their own life and experiences without awareness that death awaits them. They can express fear and have a sense of danger without knowing about death.
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This would be, at best, anecdotal. All scientific evidence available tells us otherwise,
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When I was a child, for example, I first began to realize when I was 13 years old that I, and everyone I knew, would die, truly die, eventually. Yet before I was 13, I experienced life just as vividly and was full of emotions and thoughts. Knowledge of death just led to greater fears and nostalgia, a sense of impending doom, and the knowledge that loss was a definite in my future.
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Children become self-aware before age two.
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I mention this just in case someone is going to make the bogus claim that "animals don't know they are going to die; therefore, they aren't aware that they are alive; therefore, we can do with them what we will."
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How is it bogus? 99%+ of Animals lack self-awareness. Even those we consider intelligent - such as dogs - are, at best, able to accept a bit of Pavlovian conditioning. Not only do these creatures lack any concept of death, they lack the concept of self.