Are Animals Suicidal?

[nin_ninja]

A lot of humans are. Is it because we're smart enough to see how life sucks sometimes? Does the phrase "Ignorance is bliss" hold true?

I've seen animals lose the will to live. I own around 8 to 10 animals at a time and have lost many over the years, but I've never seen or heard of an animal commit suicide (at least intentionally).

Guess the thread can be about the title question, or whether you believe animals can have as complex emotions as humans. Do animals sacrifice themselves to save their own? Sometimes, and if they can feel that need, what else can they feel?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Hmm this is interesting but i do not believe they have that..maybe they lose the will to live when they get old and body parts start to wear off.

 

[blackflare]

I seen animals when they were sick but never suicidal.but its hard to tell they cant really tell us everyone you see could be depressed but they dont show it and it would be a lot harder for animals since they cant talk. You just cant truely understand the contents of your cranium let alone others.


But virual sheep in minecraft is another story

 

[Boneasse]

Lemmings kill themselves for the good of the group. If a group has become too big for their home to be able to sustain them living there, they will throw themselves off something high, or drown themselves.

Having been raised near the countryside I can tell you that animals definetly have feelings, though maybe not at intricate as humans. I have seen several sheep/cows who've stopped eating if they had lost a lamb/baby calf. Of course it is impossible to be certain if it's on purpose, but I would think that's because they are in grief over their loss, have lost the will the live, and thus kills themselves in the "easiest" way possible, when in captivity; not eating.

But this is just conjecture, the reality could be very different.

 

[snowman6251]

Well I mean there's that bridge that all the dogs like to kill themselves on.

Link [http://www.cracked.com/article/181_the-6-creepiest-places-earth/]

 

[ZiggyE]

I think animals can't comprehend the concept of suicide, especially with the whole survival instinct hardwired into them.

Humans are different because we are intelligent enough to act and think beyond our instincts.

 

[DeadEy3]

Animal instinct is somewhat written in their DNA. The ones who try hard to survive, live and pass on their DNA. Those that don't, don't pass on their DNA. Thus no suicidal animals. With one exception. The male black widow spider purposely allows the female to eat him after mating. The female is not likely to mate again after cannibalizing, and so that suicidal spider's DNA is passed on... oh and there is also some brain snatching parasite that makes snails suicidal...
Yay discovery channel...

 

[Popido]

After some small google search session, Im positive that animals can be suicidal.

The thing that seems to separate them from us is that humans can use tools, such as rope, gun, high fall = death, etc, to kill ourselfs off. Animals usually just starve themselfs to death and on some cases have found ways to use their environment to speed up the process.

 

[Dexiro]

Hmm this is interesting but i do not believe they have that..maybe they lose the will to live when they get old and body parts start to wear off.

I wouldn't say they lose the will to live, they're probably just too tired to defend themselves.

 

[PwnSt0nes]

my best friend a year and a half ago killed himself. still dont know why. it got me thinking this same questions, and i have yet to see or hear of an animal jumping off a cliff becuz it felt the need to die.. I am hoping the answer is "yes animals are suicidal" that would mean killing oneself is a part of nature (somehow).

If the answer is no... then i don't know what that means for us humans, perhaps bad nutrition? It has been said a lack of B3 can make someone really depressed, or alot of B3 can cure depression.

 

[Rory Gallagher]

I don't think so. Remember, their rules are different from ours, and death without pain seems better than life with pain.

 

[Rory Gallagher]

I don't think so. Remember, their rules are different from ours, and death without pain seems better than life with pain.

 

[Rory Gallagher]

I don't think so. Remember, their rules are different from ours, and death without pain seems better than life with pain.

 

[archvile93]

Animal instinct is somewhat written in their DNA. The ones who try hard to survive, live and pass on their DNA. Those that don't, don't pass on their DNA. Thus no suicidal animals. With one exception. The male black widow spider purposely allows the female to eat him after mating. The female is not likely to mate again after cannibalizing, and so that suicidal spider's DNA is passed on... oh and there is also some brain snatching parasite that makes snails suicidal...
Yay discovery channel...

Actually I heard that black widows are only eaten because these tests were done in small containers where the male had nowhere to run after it was done. Perhaps you are thinking of a different species of spider, though I cannot remember the name; I believe it's Australian.

OT: I have never heard a case where it was proven that an animal deliberately took its own life.

 

[Blank Kold]

If I'm not mistaken, suicide, depression, and all that jazz is only existent in humans due to intelligence. Most other animals rely on instinct and have survival as a primary goal. So I would assume that most animals don't ever have suicidal thoughts that don't stem from torturous amounts of physical pain.

 

[Berethond]

Lemmings kill themselves for the good of the group. If a group has become too big for their home to be able to sustain them living there, they will throw themselves off something high, or drown themselves.

Yeah, that's not true at all. They just starve.

 

[BRMXJzjsoawk321]

Yes..

..Oh, in real life? Well, I've had a few cats who were old and sick and about to die run off so that they wouldn't have to die in front of us (my family.) Well, I'd like to think it was that..

 

[Boneasse]

Lemmings kill themselves for the good of the group. If a group has become too big for their home to be able to sustain them living there, they will throw themselves off something high, or drown themselves.

Yeah, that's not true at all. They just starve.

TV HAS LIED TO ME! OH NOES! I saw it in a documentary once, so thought it to be truth. Arh well, can't win every time.

 

[torzath]

Lemmings kill themselves for the good of the group. If a group has become too big for their home to be able to sustain them living there, they will throw themselves off something high, or drown themselves.

That's completely false, just something Disney made up for a film.
http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.asp
http://www.wildlifenews.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlife_news.view_article&issue_id=6&articles_id=56