Is Animal Suicide Real Or Is There Another Explanation?

Can animals actually commit suicide? Mass animal deaths and apparent animal suicides are not entirely uncommon, but experts remain uncertain as to whether animals posses the mental faculties needed to end their own lives deliberately.

Accounts of "suicidal" animals vary, but as Life's Little Mysteries explains, "the kind of abstract thinking [needed for suicide] is probably out of the range of animals." A researcher from the University of Manchester told the site, "Lacking the capacity to visualize and enact their own deaths, animals are seen to be driven by an instinct of self preservation."

While others argue that some animals deserve more credit for their cognitive abilities, self-destructive behaviors probably aren't suicide. Slate notes that some animals do have self-awareness and the ability to "speculate about the future," but "no one really knows which animals, if any, can combine these capacities to perform an act similar to human suicide."

Those who have witnessed self-destructive animal behavior personally may hold a different view. Dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry -- who was featured in the documentary "The Cove" -- became an activist after witnessing what he claims was a dolphin suicide in the 1960s, explained Time in 2010.

O'Barry argues, "The [animal entertainment] industry doesn't want people to think dolphins are capable of suicide, but these are self-aware creatures with a brain larger than a human brain. If life becomes so unbearable, they just don't take the next breath. It's suicide."

Even if it isn't suicide in the human sense, animals can and do engage in self-destructive behavior. Below, read about some of the most notable and mysterious alleged mass animal "suicides" in recent years.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

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• 11 Images And Facts About A Misunderstood Creature - Mother Nature Network

Comments

[LJMHJ]

01:59 PM on 03/22/2013

I witnessed a squirrel apparently commit suicide. There was a pair of them hanging around my backyard, and one day my dogs caught one of them and killed it. I took the body away from them and buried it in the far corner of my yard, under a maple tree. While I did this, the survivvor watched me from the branch above, making a peculiar low clucking sound I've never heard a squirrel make before. The next day I let my dogs out to go potty, and they suddenly all charged down towards the grave, 150 feet away. I looked towards where they were heading and saw the same squirrel sitting on the grave, facing the oncoming dogs without I can only call complete indifference. No panic, no attempt to get up the tree that was only ten feet away from him or her. The dogs seized it and killed it with no resistance whatever. I really think it had lost the will to live, and was somehow conscious of its decision to refuse to make an escape which it could easily have done.

[Mattie]

03:13 PM on 04/07/2012

When my daughter left for college, our cat who was always with her, just sat at the top of the stairs waiting for her to come home. She wouldn't eat, we would have to get her intraveinus fluids, it was just so sad. She died about six months later, maybe there was some medical reason, the vet sure couldn't figure it out. I think she just missed our daughter, and she got depressed and died.

[Estefano Miro]

12:45 PM on 04/06/2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHA4HNbmDLg
maybe after watching this documentary, we will understand why animals can behave like that

[Monica Bigler]

08:28 AM on 04/06/2012

During a very stressful period in our lives (moving, new job, death of companion cat), my cat stopped eating. She consequently developed a fatal liver reaction that is common for cats and horses within a brief time and almost died. We were able to save her with a feeding tube. She had to be fed for over 4 months until she was ready to eat on her own again. I was struck by the fact that she was so near to death and wondered if this could be likened to "attempted suicide". Thankfully she is well now.

[Amadahy]

11:09 PM on 04/05/2012

Interesting I never thought to equate suicide with someone having mental health problems. Sure, sometimes those with mental health problems do commit suicide. There are plenty of examples however where those who are perfectly mentally sound have committed suicide, or are given the means to do so given special circumstances. Soldiers in war, pilots, and even astronauts are said to have been given or are given cyanide or similar tablets. Some people simply choose to end their own life because of finding they have an excruciatingly painful disease for example. Suicide can be the most logical response to an abysmal situation.

[summer261987]

09:57 PM on 04/05/2012

i used to have a dog that had severe nerve-related disease that made her unable to walk. our vet suggest us to put her down. but she got this strong will to live that we decided to do our part to let her live. she finally recovered and able to walk again! We helped in the process, but it's definitely her determination that make her live!

Animal got feelings too (IMO) and if they can be so determined to live, it's also possible that they can be discouraged to live anymore...

[cindyw]

02:07 PM on 04/05/2012

I know dogs can get depressed. I saw it happen to one of mine when his companion died, but suicide attempts imply that dogs are aware of their own mortality and are able to make a conscious decision to end their lives. I'm not sure that's true. It's an interesting question.

[Climate Lurker]

09:22 AM on 04/05/2012

One of the issues I've always had regarding peoples' (and researchers') starting-point assumptions about other animals is that we are smarter (meaning better) than all others. This is an assumption, nothing more and nothing less. It is a logical fallacy to say that because it can't be proved that they have strong emotions, or are smart, or think about the future, then they obviously don't have these traits. Researchers used to think of animals as automatons, unthinking, purely instinct driven. What a biased starting position to work from, don't you think? Thankfully research has proven them wrong over and over again, so the starting point is now somewhat more equitable, though this assumption of animal inferiority is still prevalent.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

06:06 AM on 04/05/2012

animals do get profoundly depressed, and some do "give up"

[Mrs Robinsons]

09:40 PM on 04/04/2012

In the human sense...

now studying the atman.

[mlaiuppa]

03:30 PM on 04/04/2012

Well, if by suicide you count will themselves to die, then yes, I believe dogs can do that.

[Nerdiac]

03:15 PM on 04/04/2012

I love it when "experts" comment on things they obviously have no clue about. Anyone who truly cares for animals (sorry omnivores) and anyone who has known someone who has attempted suicide knows that animals can and do suffer from many of the same mental illnesses that humans do. The "experts" in this article seem to be suggesting that suicide is just a logical thought process, and only smart people can figure it out. Give me a break. These researchers need to take a psychology class or two. Also, it's real cute how they group all animals together. Everyone knows animals are different, even within the same species. I doubt a worker ant would off himself, but a dolphin or gorilla? Maybe. As humans continue to do our best to destroy this planet and it's inhabitants, we will see more and more animal and human suicides, mark my words. One hundred years from now this article will seem even more ridiculous than it does now because suicides will be so commonplace.

[Mattie]

03:15 PM on 04/07/2012

I heard a Carl Sagen quote that I will never forget, if humans continue to thrive, every other species will be destroyed, if humans die, every other species will thrive. I've always believed that, ever since I first heard it.

[olitenup]

03:05 PM on 04/04/2012

If you have ever seen an animal give up and die, you will never forget it.

[plepgeat]

02:44 PM on 04/04/2012

Animal voodoo murder!

[jenniferkizzy]

01:48 PM on 04/04/2012

well animals like all sentient being's have been known too carry mental disease's like people especially dog's that served during war time yes a man told me once a horse bit into an exposed electrical wiring at a race track so he didn't have too race anymore so yes i do sadly believe that animal's can and will commit suicide bye

[mlaiuppa]

03:32 PM on 04/04/2012

They forgot to include the story of the bile bears. A Mother intentionally killed her cub, then bashed her own brains out hitting her head against a wall over and over.

I think that is murder/ suicide. I think she didn't want her baby to grow up to the pain and suffering she lived in and wanted to escape it herself.

[jenniferkizzy]

04:12 PM on 04/04/2012

yep true the horse that did that was a winning horse it was later found out the jockey was abusing him so he wanted it too end himself

[rav1267]

09:50 PM on 04/04/2012

I've read reports of dinosaurs having a massive suicide. So this article must be true.

[jenniferkizzy]

10:49 PM on 04/04/2012

good point the more important thing is i've seen dog's deliberately eat chocolates and then get sick weird