Do chimps/apes and other animals commit suicide??

Question

For example those with higher intelligence. Surely they suffer bullying etc from other animals and can be depressed just like humans? Any recorded cases?

Answer 1

No. They don't inflict as much damage upon each other as humans do. Why do you think i exsist. Lemmings jump off cliffs though.

Answer 2

Couple of years ago a scrapyard dog escaped and got into the lambing field. It killed 7 lambs and 2 ewes.

Four hours later one of the ewes that had lost her lamb committed suicide by running head first into a straining post.

Didn't make the National news and the police destroyed the dog with the owners consent.

Answer 3

no not many animals do, such as whales when they feel sick or ailing, they will beach themselfs to die, thats about as close as you get, other animals like walking birds, sheep and cattle dont commit suicide they just dont understand cliff =s death lol.

Answer 4

Since animals can't usually tell us what they are thinking, the answer has to be no, but there are certainly one ot two cases that give you food for thought and how one defines suicide.

There are many examples of domestic animals such as dogs, cats and caged birds losing a partner and then refusing food and dying a few days later.  Obviously, their loss affects their state of mind to some degree, but who's to say that it is suicide?  A rabbit that gets ran over by a car isn't necessarily committing sucicide either.

One should also ask why creatures such as dolphins and whales, otherwise healthy creatures sometimes seem to deliberately beach themselves and even when freed, still seem to come back and try again and have to be put down.  Is that too another sign of suicide?

Even in zoos, animals such as lions and monkeys have known to become ill and die after the death of another animal in their group, again usually due to refusing food and an apparent will not to live.  Are these animals really committing suicide though?  Maybe, maybe not.

One lot that aren't though is Lemmings.  That particular legend is an urban myth.  Only the weak lemmings are driven off the cliffs by the stronger ones, an example of the survival of the fittest.

Answer 5

I have seen specials where their shrinking natural habitat became so stressfull that they stopped eating from depression. Whales beach themselves. It is not a conscious act like humans taking pills or shooting themselves. It is still a by product of depression.