Do Animals Also Attemp Suicide Like Humans?

H ave you ever heard of animals committing suicide? Is suicide real among them? Do animals really, knowingly attempt suicide?

Suicide is the act of killing oneself intentionally. Suicide seems to be a uniquely human experience . Suicide among humans is dreadfully common. Across the world, more people die from suicide than in all wars and homicides combined.

Animals can suffer from health issues like humans do, such as anxiety or PTSD. This can lead animals to do self-destructive things. But even so, these animals are not trying to die. Animals may do things that lead to their death, but it isn’t intentional. They don’t understand what they’re doing.

Animals Suicide

Although people may quickly brush off the question, “Can animals commit suicide?” as a silly, and fantastically anthropomorphic. But, let’s give the question some serious thought.

We all may have a belief that animals are incapable of the kind of self-reflective, purposeful behavior that makes human suicide what it is. It also requires an awareness of death , and animals, don’t have these capacities.

We’ve all heard of dogs who die soon after their owners. However, they do not die of grief. Dogs who die soon after their owners do so because they won’t accept food from anyone other than their owner . It’s all because of a broken social tie that causes their deaths, and these dogs are not trying to die.

True Stories about Animal suicides

A few years ago, Aristotle cited a stallion that threw himself into an abyss after it became apparent that, like Oedipus, he had unknowingly mated with his own mother.

There are many such stories that break the mold , like the lab dog who threw himself in the water, and many others, they are considered fables.

A handsome Black Dog

A black dog, who was known to be "fine, handsome and valuable" was reported to "throw himself into the water" in an attempted suicide. His legs and feet were in "perfect stillness".

The most strange thing that happened was, when he was dragged out, "he again hastened to the water and tried to sink again" Eventually the handsome dog succeeded in his apparent suicidal mission and died.

A Wild Stag

In 1875 a stag was reported to jump to its death rather than be hunted by dogs.

A stag was reported jumping to a suicidal death. It was stated that "a wild stag, rather than overtaken by its pursuers, will fall into the jaws of an awful death".

Mass Deaths of Lemmings

Suicide became more of a social malady. There were lemmings who apparently march towards cliffs and throw themselves off, or mass whale strandings.

However, researchers know that the mass deaths of lemmings are an unfortunate consequence of a dense population of creatures emigrating together at the same time.

Whales

Whales are not attempting suicide when they strand.

"To think it died from suicide like a person after the death of a spouse is just a projection of a style of romantic human interpretation."

Wild Born Orca

A wild-born orca in one of SeaWorld's parks, that appeared to beach herself on the side of the tank for about ten minutes. There were reports stating she had attempted suicide.

Unnatural environments have been known to stress captive orcas, triggering repetitive behaviours such as rubbing the side of their tanks and grinding their teeth.

Chinese Bear

A captive bear at a Chinese bear farm was reported to have smothered her son and then killed herself. This followed an extremely painful injection of a catheter into the bear cubs abdomen to extract bile, which is sometimes used in Chinese medicine.

It was reported that she killed herself and her son to prevent more years of torture.

Zombie Ant

It's already too late for this zombie ant, a parasitic fungus has taken over.

Similarly, a parasitic fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis can control the minds of ants, turning them into zombies . It steers the insects to their deaths in locations where the fungus can thrive.

Mother Spiders

Mother spiders let their young one eat them. Though they die in the process, this sacrifice is not suicide, but rather an extreme act of parental care . The mother spiders provide their own bodies as a vital first nutritious meal that ensures their offspring's survival.

Monkeys

Monkeys are known to grieve when their companions die.

Animals mourn, recognize their dead and fear dead bodies. But they do not fear death "as an actuality". It's a fear of dangerous situations that potentially lead to death.

Do animals kill themselves?

If animals denied the risks of death as many humans do, zebras might knowingly graze near lions, fish swim alongside crocodiles, and mice stare into the eyes of snakes.

We know that some animals kill themselves. The question is whether they intend to. For example, The mother spider may behave this way to primarily provide food, not die. The mother bear may have acted unnaturally due to stress, not with the intent of killing her and her cub.

However, some people intend to kill themselves, while animals do not, due to differences in cognitive ability.

So, what next? For an act to be classified as a suicide , the agent must know that what it is doing will end its life. It is impossible to tell if any non-human animal knows its actions will result in its own death and performs the actions towards that end.

The closest today is the phenomenon of dogs that will sometimes refuse to eat after losing their masters, which does in rare cases continue to the death of the dog. But the question remains in these cases- is the dog refusing to eat so that it will die, or is it just refusing to eat because it’s sad and has no appetite , as can happen with humans, but in the dog’s case not realizing the potential consequences?

There are several types of insects who willingly allow themselves to be killed , or even in a few cases, do the deed themselves.

For instance, it has been noted that certain species of ant possess the ability to explode themselves at will when threatened (often emitting some sticky or poisonous substance in the process), earning them the apt nickname of “exploding ants“ . However, even if the ants realize what will happen in terms of their own existence, it would not be classified as suicide anymore , the ant sacrifices itself for the greater good because as a species, it’s evolved to put the needs of the many before the needs of the individual.

Similarly, honey bees will willingly explode their own penises and subsequently die , just for a chance to pass on their genes. They will also willingly remove themselves from a hive if they know they’re infected with a disease that could potentially hurt other bees.

In short, though we’re aware of numerous cases in which animals have seemingly intentionally taken their own lives , we simply don’t know whether the animals understood the ramifications of their actions , or were just reacting to environmental triggers without much thought going into it.

Most of us overcome these worries. We have an in-built optimism bias , which gives us a rosier view of the future , but this is not the case for those with depression , for whom the future often appears very bleak.