Does suicide exist among animals?

Question

Does suicide exist among animals?

Answer 1

No because animals aren't idiots.  They're just animals.

Answer 2

i have seen a hornet kill its self when i was a little boy torturing it.  He stung himself in the head right through his mouth.  I know now that is wrong to do, but it does answer your question.

Answer 3

Lemmings!

lol, no it doesn't - the difference between humans and animals is that animals are not socially aware, and suicide requires social awareness as a pre-requsite of a self-inflicted death being suicide as opposed to just an accidental death.

Answer 4

Humans have evolved to understand that we all will die. Other animals (I consider humans to be a mamalian species, therefore an animal as well) do not have this understanding and anticipation of death. Therefore, they cannot perform actions such as suicide and murder. Any killing action from them is instinctive and meant for survival.

Answer 5

When they eat rat poison etc..is it on purpose? Stand in the middle of the road? One cat I saw just looked at me and didn't move. I think they have feelings like humans and mental illnesses so sure, why not? Sad to think about anyone doing that.

Answer 6

Insects sacrifice themselves all the time. Other than bees, there's a species of ant that makes itself explode to defend its colony... according to the discovery channel.

If you were refferring to emotional suicide... well, many social fish, such as tetras stop eating if there aren't any more of their kind in the tank.

Answer 7

Have you heard of whales washing up on the beaches, lying there dying....no matter how much humans try and put it back into the water.

Or a herding critter getting in front of there off spring to be killed....instead of the offspring.

A sick dog wondering off to die...even though it can be fixed.

On and on. Yes I think so, but we can not ask them now can we?

Answer 8

yes you better beleive it. if you can recall about the pigs that jumped off the cliff down into the ocean in the bible after jesus casted the demons into the swine they were so tormented they commited suicide. i beleive if your pet is so tormented it is possible for it to find away out.

Answer 9

Lemmings are known to run off of cliffs usually in large quantities.  Don't know that I would call it suicide so much as mob mentality.

Answer 10

no, Lemmings and beached whales are accidents.

Animals have the survival instinct and that's all I have to say about that.

Answer 11

I expected people to say "LEMMINGS!!!!111!!!lolrotfl!!11!one!!!11...

Because lemmings, believe it or not, just drop off the cliffs due to, perhaps, bad sensory abilities. Not suicide.

Dogs and cats and various other mammals with somewhat developed brains (but no great apes, notice) do starve themselves to death if depressed, but never do they jump.

Fish that leap out of water, lemmings that jump off cliffs, birds that slam into buildings, etc., all of that is because of bad sensory abilities and adaptation.

Some creatures, however, allow other creatures to kill them, but is not necessarily suicide. Black widow males allow themselves to be eaten for the good of the female. This should not be ruled as suicide.

Only humans have enough variability in emotion to be able to pick up a shotgun and blow a hole through the mouth.

Answer 12

My friend's goldfish commited suicide!!!!!

Answer 13

I think this is a very interesting question.

As for the answer... I found this on-line in an article by Crawley JN, Sutton ME, Pickar D. called "Animal models of self-destructive behavior and suicide."

"Although care should be given to drawing direct parallels, the clear conclusion is that humans are not alone in exhibiting self-initiated behaviors that ultimately produce self-harm or death." It seems that, according to scientists, some animals do commit suicide. You can look the article up.

Answer 14

no - animals are not aware of their existence like we are

lemmings do not commit suicide

and pardon me but what the h**l is sacrifice?!

Answer 15

Yes.  Many species withdraw from the pack or clan, and starve themselves to death.  They are usually very sick, and this is Natures way to ensure survival of the species.

Answer 16

i don't think so. I have had a dog that was hit by a car, the dog kept crying but didn't commit suicide by again going to the middle of the road.

Have you seen chicken or goats being slaughtered? They keep fighting until their last breath. If they just 'submitted' to their killers, then that would be classified as suicide.

From watching National Geographic, I have not seen any animal just 'submitting' to other animals preying on them.

Answer 17

no unless its accidental like a rabbit getting hit by a car its not like it wanted to get hit by a car bc animals dont have any problems to think about like we do theres no money nothing to be depressed about except a wolf trying to eat them or something

Answer 18

yes, first of all humans are animals, and second of all my friends fish committed suicide! It may occur when animals are not getting enough unconditional love or care. They figure that nobody loves them, so why should they live? I hope that answers the question!

Answer 19

Yes and no.  One has to be aware that you have a life to actually take it.  One of the big differences between humans and animals is that we humans are aware that we are alive.  Many animals are not, their level of awareness is that they are just there or not there.  It is a fine point to take into consideration.  Now with that in mind, many breeds of animals do run off when they are old away from packs and groups.  This is really common among canines.

Answer 20

humans are animals but i don't think so my goat nana did hang herself but i don't think it was on purrpose.

Answer 21

Lemmings periodicly mass together and stampede towards the ocean... they continue no matter what's in the way, like cliffs.  They just end up swimming in the same direction out into the ocean until they all drown or are eaten.  I think it has to do with population critical mass and Malthusian theory on population behavior.  Pretty strange though.

Answer 22

honestly. i have wondered that for a long time.  i am not sure what science says about it, but i have heard stories that make me think it HAS happened at least a few times.  I'd have to say, yes it does.   There ARE a few known instances in nature (scientifically proven) where lesser animals (usually insects) will give up thier life to save the life of a queen or dominate animal/insect in their immediate group. This happens with bees and termites most notably.  But like suicide because of "depression" or unhappiness (like people feelings), then I really dont' know.  good question

Answer 23

The naked Jonas brothers species commits suicide but they are pigeons

Answer 24

Given that humans are animals, yes. However, lemmings, contrary to popular belief, are not suicidal. This myth originated from the Disney movie White Wilderness in which the film crew drove lemmings off of a cliff for the purposes of their documentary. See: http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmi...  Other supposed animal suicides such as squirrels running in front of cars, insects flying in front of windshields, etc. can be attributed to stupidity or chance rather than a suicidal mentality. However, animals have been observed to stop eating after falling into depressions. Whether this behavior can be considered suicidal or simply a symptom of the depression is anyone's guess...

Answer 25

well humans are animals but most importantly a fish at my placement committed suicide it jumped out of his bowl then his fishy friend died the next day so id say yes....but only the stpid ones such as fish and humans. cats and dogs are too intelligent for that!

Answer 26

lol, humans are animals.

lemmings commit suicide by drowning themselves or by jumping off a cliff

Answer 27

I think there may be a point when animals just want to give up on life and they do things that their instincts tell them to do in order to die. Yes, I believe an animal committing suicide is possible indeed.

Answer 28

No,

And contrary to the lemmings comments, they don't either.   Here is a clip on that subject.

While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat[5]. On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.

Answer 29

The answer depends on how you define "suicide."

Many animals will go against a bigger and stronger opponent to protect the young.  Some of them end up killed as a result.  Would you define that as a suicide, since there was not even a chance the animal could have won?

Birds often fly into something and be killed.  Is that suicide in your definition?

As far as I know, they do not make a conscious decision to terminate itself and as far as I know, the existence of consciousness has not been proven in anything other than humans.  If you are defining suicide as a conscious decision to terminate itself, then the answer has to be NO.

Answer 30

Nope. And humans are not animals. Just the fact that you are asking that question separates you from animals.

Answer 31

well yes because my dog has little seizures and when ever he has one he trys to walk near steps. we told our vet and they said that when a animal has something wrong they no something isnt right with there health and in nature they would try to commit suicide