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Do animals commit suicide?

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posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:05 PM
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Weve all heard about it or even seen it happen. The family dgg walking off to die alone , whales beaching themselves, prey animals jumping to thier death. Do animals have the self awareness to commit an act of suicide, filled with the terrible emotions a human may have? Ive always believed in thier awareness, and believe they have a spirit. Heres an article
about it.

www.slate.com...




There is plenty of evidence that animals engage in self-destructive behavior. In addition to the beached whales, ducks and dogs have been observed drowning themselves, cows have walked off cliffs, and naked mole rats (like some insects) leave the colony to die when infected with a communicable disease





No matter the motivation, self-destruction appears to be something that exists in even the simplest life forms. Single-celled marine algae engage in programmed cell death when exposed to stresses that they’re fully capable of overcoming. Researchers recently discovered that the “suicide” of some cells promoted growth in the survivors. Like infected mole rats or bees that abandon the colony to prevent an epidemic, algae die for the good of the community

edit on 17-11-2011 by stonebutterfly because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:09 PM
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I have heard of the Dolphin who played Flipper. her trainer swears she killed herself. Apparently one day, she just swan to the bottom of the tank and simply refused to go back up for air. She was healthy otherwise....

The trainer said it was suicide... So, yeah, I suppose some do.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:13 PM
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reply to post by stonebutterfly
 




family dgg walking off to die alone , whales beaching themselves, prey animals jumping to thier death


Let us not forget the high number of birds flying en masse that all decide to end it all (in unison no less) into the side of a tractor trailer. Which was one of the reasons if I recall that was given for one of the bird die offs a while back.

Not sure I can accept that animals would feel the need to off themselves, or more, have the intelligence to overpower the "will to live" aspect as humans seemingly do (ETA, I should say, as humans can so selfishly do).
edit on 11/17/2011 by UberL33t because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:17 PM
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Lets all remember this thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The story about the mother bear who killed herself and her child at the Chinese bile farm.

That was the most touching story I've ever read.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:19 PM
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Originally posted by faint1993
Lets all remember this thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The story about the mother bear who killed herself and her child at the Chinese bile farm.

That was the most touching story I've ever read.


That story is very, very, sad.

Thanks for sharing the link



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:25 PM
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Dogs jump off bridge

I remember reading this awhile back.


I think that most animals do this because their flock or whatever all have the same diesease or illness. I have heard of dogs lying down at their owners graves or caskets and dying, and I assume that it's heartbreak that causes this. I think ALL animals have feelings, we just don't understand them or know how they show them.
edit on 17-11-2011 by lilowl53 because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:35 PM
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Here is a good article by a reporter on (Discovery News).......I personally (until I read this thread) never knew animals committed suicide. This new found knowledge saddens me.


Link: news.discovery.com...



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:35 PM
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Dear
Phyllis, angela, margaret and susan,

My life has become a drudge. That beast (the rooster) wakes us up early every morning at the same time, which brings on my need to lay...then the humans come round, steal my babies...in thier shell!...so I go outside the hovel we live in, trying to look for little seeds and things, peck at the ground until it starts to get dark, until the humans chase us back into the hovel, after which I nod off standing up, because you never know when that furry, sharp toothed thing with the bushy tail will come round and try to kill us...
Please take care of yourselves...
I have had enough
Love
Chloe

I found this in my henhouse...

Akushla



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:37 PM
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my understanding is that it was only humans and lemmings that kill themselves, but according to this thread it happens occasionally to other animals as well.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:39 PM
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their are these parasitic protozoa that can make an animal kill it self.. .
en.wikipedia.org...

heres a quote from the wiki page:
"T. gondii infections have the ability to change the behavior of rats and mice, making them drawn to, rather than fearful of, the scent of cats. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to sexually reproduce if its host is eaten by a cat.[11] The infection is highly precise, as it does not affect a rat's other fears such as the fear of open spaces or of unfamiliar-smelling food."

kinda interesting, i thought...



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 08:47 PM
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reply to post by liquidsmoke206
 


As I recall the lemmings thing is actually an urban legend. Think I read that on cracked. Anyone remember the video game lemmings on the khomputah? 26 and I feel ancient. If you didn't have a 56k modem, actually lets say 26.6 (if I recall) just go away.

OP the family dog walking off is something I've heard of often. I wouldn't call it suicide but an awareness death is imminent. I wonder if that's some sort of biological program to keep the scent of death away from the pack. I've had lots of dogs, and none did this but we put them down before they really started to suffer. Oh man, I just got misty thinking about all my dog family members that I've lost.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 09:00 PM
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reply to post by Domo1
 


Domo1 is correct. Lemmings do not jump off cliffs en' mass.

As for animal suicide, I cannot be sure. I have spent a lot of time working in animal rescue and volunteering in animal shelters. A behavior I have seen, which is disturbing and sad, comes mostly from cats. When animals are dropped off at shelters, they are placed into an "intake room". They're placed in their own cage, with a small litterbox, and basically await being evaluated by shelter workers before going out in the main shelter.

Some cats are so terrified by being dropped off in this odd smelling, loud (barking) place, that they will bury their heads in their cat box/cat litter. On more than one occasion cats have eaten the litter in their box to the extent that they choked to death or suffocated, not sure which came first. Suicide? It sure looks like it.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 09:10 PM
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Animals dont live posessed for the love of something that most of them will never get...lots of money...So theres probably nothing about thier enviornment,or the way they think,or the way they live,that would make them want to kill themselves.Unlike humans,who are driven over the edge by our relentless pursuit of materialism and the do or die enforcement of our insanity producing rat race lifestyle...

Another thing,animals get rid of unhealthy offspring at birth,unlike humans who allow and encourage brain damaged people to roam freely and most suicides and serial killings are committed by people with mental problems...

Suicide is a human thought and even if it "appeared" that an animal was killing itself,its probably not even what its actually doing.Humans put a human face on lots of things that are not human at all...
edit on 17-11-2011 by blocula because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 09:21 PM
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Yeah, the Lemmings thing is a myth that was promoted by Disney I believe...



The misconception of lemming "mass suicide" is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors. In 1955, Disney Studio illustrator Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title "The Lemming with the Locket". This comic, which was inspired by a 1954 American Mercury article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs.[10][11] Even more influential was the 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, in which staged footage was shown with lemmings jumping into certain death after faked scenes of mass migration.[12] A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found that the lemmings used for White Wilderness were flown from Hudson Bay to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they did not jump off the cliff, but were in fact launched off the cliff using a turntable.
en.wikipedia.org...
[13]


As for the OP, I'm sure animals do commit suicide and there are certainly documented cases of it apparently happening. Another myth that has come about from TV/Film is animals don't commit "murder", ie kill their own. This is most certainly false as well.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 09:30 PM
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Originally posted by blocula
Suicide is a human thought and even if it "appeared" that an animal was killing itself,its probably not even what they are actually doing.Humans put a human face on lots of things that are not human at all..


Hehe, there's a name for that. It's called Anthropomorphism.


I'll have to disagree. I have seen shelter animals come in who were so terrified they could not stand. Who were so terrified that when you go to lift them up onto the examination table, they lose control of their bowels.

I have seen dogs and cats so terrified that they attempt to hide underneath each other inside their cages, forcing their heads into the corner and tucking their eyes away with such ferver, that they have smothered. I've seen cats smother themselves in their cat litter and even eat their cat litter and choke to death, all as a result of being so shocked and scared by being abandoned in their new alien environment.

When you think about a cat or kitten, puppy or dog, who has lived it's entire life, since it was a baby, in a private home. Imagine being removed from that home, removed from those familiar smells, and dumped in a place that loud and unfamiliar in sounds and smells. It literally is, for an animals, sensory overload.

Like people, some animals are scared but do ok. They come around. And like people, some animals are more sensitive, they're terrified. And they don't come around. And like people, you can see the level of their stress. Terrified wide eyes, pupils dilated, sweaty paws, loud mewing, mournful barking.

Some animals, like people, are depressed and they become angry. They start biting and acting out. I had one cat in particular who I remember to this day. He came in from a home, he was 9 years old, indoor only. They brought in his bed and toys. By all accounts he was a great cat. He was so stressed out by the shelter that he began hiding his head underneath his litterbox, shoving his head underneath it, and staying there, with the box tipped up in the air. He would growl if he even sensed you were approaching his cage. And if you forced it, he would lash out and bite. I cannot say I blamed him.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 09:35 PM
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Mammals are all very similar in psychological makeup. Imagine yourself a dog that gets kicked and starved or have lost their master. Yes... very sad. Dogs do in fact commit suicide.

Here is a bizarre link:

www.problempets.co.uk...

My heart goes out to all the disenfranchised animals.



posted on Nov, 17 2011 @ 11:31 PM
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Originally posted by brilab45
Mammals are all very similar in psychological makeup. Imagine yourself a dog that gets kicked and starved or have lost their master. Yes... very sad. Dogs do in fact commit suicide.

Here is a bizarre link:

www.problempets.co.uk...

My heart goes out to all the disenfranchised animals.
The connection to humans that animals display is called pain.They have nerves and so do we and when anything that has nerves is kicked and starved,it will feel pain...Any emotional similarities that animals have with humans,resides purely within the minds of humans,who see what they want to see and feel what they want to feel...
edit on 17-11-2011 by blocula because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 18 2011 @ 12:46 AM
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Originally posted by blocula
Any emotional similarities that animals have with humans,resides purely within the minds of humans,who see what they want to see and feel what they want to feel...


You keep saying that as if it's factual. Do you have observational data or scientific data to support what you're saying, or is this just your opinion?


edit on 18-11-2011 by Anthropormorphic because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 18 2011 @ 02:07 AM
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reply to post by uggghhh
 


Suicide requires an intention of the individual. The only type of sickness that can be categorized as a valid reason of suicide in mental halt, but not all suicides can be freely categorized into that slot, some are result of conscious choice (even if some can be logically flawed), a jump from a window due to a fire, some teenager that suicides because of shame, etc...

Suicide is the ultimate choice of self expression and the ultimate claim to the self determination of one self.

I do think that only high order animals can commit suicide, most do it by refusing a life sustained resource. I would not classify as suicide, but instinct (especially maternal instinct) that others own life value is placed above a child, for instance a mother bear attacking a puma to save its cub, etc.. But for instance a body guard putting itself in harms way would be considered suicide because there is an intentional suppression of the instinct of self preservation (this requires a special regime of indoctrination), for instance a street cop would stop to analyze the risks to himself first.

Suicide also requires the capacity for projecting the future, most animals do not have it.



posted on Nov, 18 2011 @ 05:18 AM
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reply to post by Panic2k11
 


WHAT??? so a pack rat that saves food all summer to eat all winter... what would you call that luck?

I can tell you one thing my horses predict the future every day, they miraculously show up in the yard before 7am to get their grain and love, that must just be a coincidence.

you are sadly mistaken my friend go do some work at a rescue hecktry and rescue some animals and place them in homes. then tell me animals dont have emotion.

BTW, Humans are Animals...



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