Animal Suicides Might Tell Us About Human Behavior

[nothuman100]

To the humans who say other animals dont have souls..... dont you say that they have four feet.... so they'v got more souls than a human

[Remus0387]

I do believe animals can get depression from loss of family members, that they could develop suicidal tendencies, not too sure but it's always possible, if they understand jealousy and revenge, suicide not that far off.

[ridewave444]

Very interesting. I'm sure we'll keep getting closer to finding some answers on this in time.

[hugoegbert79]

Animals aren't aware of their own mortality, and so I'd guess that suicide isn't something they could contemplate. As to the beached whale comments-how would a whale know that if they beached themselves they'd die? They don't understand that they need to remain in water in order to oxygenate themselves, so how could they know that beaching themselves would lead to death? This all sounds highly dubious.

[Tounushi]

@hugoegbert79

"they need to remain in water in order to oxygenate themselves"

:facepalm:

Whales are mammals that breathe air...

They don't sweat, however. They need to stay wet in order to regulate their body temperature.

[natyanayaki]

@hugoegbert79 An aunt of mine had a pair of wild birds who lived in a tree at her place year round for years, they lived there, raised their young there, then one day one of the pair fell dead and my aunt saw the other bird climb up the tree and dive, didn't flap it's wings, crushed it's skull and died.

[natyanayaki]

@hugoegbert79 Another instance, my grandmother has a few pet stray dogs, one of them had a litter of 3 pups. 2 died, she screamed, cried, made a scene, was about to run and jump off a balcony ledge until she heard the surviving pup whimper. Then again, you think whales and dolphins oxygenate themselves in water so...

[natyanayaki]

@hugoegbert79 And when you say "animals aren't aware" do you mean that "non-human animals" aren't aware? I never understand people who are so arrogant to think that humans are the only animal species who are aware of mortality, love, family or whatever...

[BoyKissBoy]

Why would you want to propagate the lemmings myth by showing a picture of a lemming on screen during this discussion?

[zEropoint68]

B.F. Skinner did a whole bunch of studies where he stressed animals well past the point where any human in the situation would commit suicide. The animals would go insane, but none of them began acting in a 'suicidal' manner. It's like without a sense of their own mortality, they don't realize that death ends pain.

[eswyatt]

Louis takes a side on a question and Dave concludes he's uninterested. The guy can't win.

[kazooga1234]

i am with louis i would like more about it but it could just be depression not suisidalness

[enlightenedone676]

In order to commit suicide you need to be able to contemplate the future, and understand what it means to be dead. You'd then have to be able to contrast those two states. That requires a decent amount of cognition that few species have. Whales, elephants and chimps for certain could contemplate this if intelligent enough. I think the key here is truly understanding what death is and being able to contrast that with 'the future will hold pain for me and I don't want it'.

[IsLikeThat]

@enlightenedone676 Yeah, I think it's more likely that animals simply get depressed to the point where they don't run from predators as fast, don't eat enough, etc. Not that they actually have the psychology to decide to kill themselves.

[LanceMurtagh]

'Literal' religious followers don't deny animals have souls, they just believe that an animal's soul does not live on after death unlike a human's soul.

[crackerz99]

@DerrenBrown100 Thanks for pointing that out, I clearly don't know the difference between 'You're" and "Your" which is why I just use them at random, as evidence in this section of my post "I'm glad you're dead, your just..."

A noose or a gun? No, perhaps I'll drive "You are" car into a pond, cause a little water damage, "Yar arrr" insurance can handle that right?

Clearly.

Clearly!

Clea- Clearly!

Clearly?!

Clearly I'm using those incorrectly.

[baalisgod666]

I'd kill others before killing myself.

I don't believe animals kill themselves.

[trajan74]

I saw on Animal Planet where a female elephant was killing and EATING villagers who killed her baby. The men even believed she was hunting them. Now this doesn't prove anything but if elephants can feel concern for a herd member trapped in mud pools, mourn their dead, or start eating meat in total violation of their biology(we might even call this insanity like eating rocks or dirt), why is the idea they might commit suicide so far-fetched?

[bobshenix]

@trajan74

Nobody denied that there is an extremely strong bond between mother and offspring in many (perhaps most) species... i mean some species literally die right after laying eggs/giving birth, since their life purpose of procreation is now fulfilled.

That is quite different than proving suicidal intent in various isolated cases.

[natyanayaki]

@trajan74 Not to mention the high occurrence of mammal mothers who are in captivity and mistreated who not only abandon their young, but actively seek to kill their young. It's actually very similar behavior of women in extremely sexist cultures who kill their daughters, so that their daughters won't live the life that they did.

[TheJawsusNSexmanShow]

whales beach themselves because of sonar interference and disorientation

[patatepowa]

@TheJawsusNSexmanShow They probably took it into consideration and found out that some whales were not being missguided and attempted to commit suicide still.

[homerfromhelI]

@TheJawsusNSexmanShow

always, with no exceptions?

[1980albatros]

@homerfromhelI Well, i doubt you can ask a whale whats going on in their lives to lead them to this.