animal suicide

The debate on whether an animal has the cognitive capability to commit suicide is highly debated.{{Cite web |last=Nobel |first=Justin |date=2010-03-19 |title=Do Animals Commit Suicide? A Scientific Debate |url=https://time.com/archive/6934255/do-animals-commit-suicide-a-scientific-debate/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=TIME |language=en}} Many people have opposing views on what is considered suicide. It is often argued if animals commit suicide due to environmental factors or if they do it in a manner of self defense.{{Cite web |date=2010-03-15 |title=Do Animals Commit Suicide? |url=https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/animals-commit-suicide.htm |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en-us}}{{Cite journal |last=Shorter |first=J. R. |last2=Rueppell |first2=O. |date=2012-02-01 |title=A review on self-destructive defense behaviors in social insects |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-011-0210-x |journal=Insectes Sociaux |language=en |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.1007/s00040-011-0210-x |issn=1420-9098}} An example of this would be bees, as it is argued over whether bees are purposefully committing suicide or just defending their hives and oblivious that stinging will cause death. The concept of animal suicide has progressed over time, so there is also controversy over whether animal suicide is just humans anthropomorphizing animals or Evolutionary traits that appear over time.{{Cite journal |last=Preti |first=Antonio |date=2018-01-01 |title=Animal suicide: Evolutionary continuity or anthropomorphism? |url=https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss20/10/ |journal=Animal Sentience |volume=2 |issue=20 |doi=10.51291/2377-7478.1297 |issn=2377-7478|doi-access=free }} Currently, Animal suicide has not been proven, however the topic is highly debated by scholars, psychologists, and animal behaviorists alike.{{Cite journal |last=Ristau |first=Carolyn |date=2017-01-01 |title=Self, death, and suicide: Does an animal know of these? |url=https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss20/5/ |journal=Animal Sentience |volume=2 |issue=20 |doi=10.51291/2377-7478.1290 |issn=2377-7478|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Preti |first=Antonio |date=2011-06-01 |title=Animal model and neurobiology of suicide |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278584611000686?via=ihub |journal=Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry |series=Suicide and suicidal behavior |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=818–830 |doi=10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.10.027 |issn=0278-5846}}

There are yet to be definitive, unanimously agreed upon instances of non-human animal suicide. This is due to the many components of suicide which are difficult to empirically observe without interpretation bias. An animal would need to be aware of its own existence as distinct from other individuals.{{Cite journal |last=Birch |first=Jonathan |last2=Schnell |first2=Alexandra K. |last3=Clayton |first3=Nicola S. |date=October 2020 |title=Dimensions of Animal Consciousness |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7116194/ |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |volume=24 |issue=10 |pages=789–801 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2020.07.007 |issn=1879-307X |pmc=7116194 |pmid=32830051}} It would need to have an understanding of mortality and sufficient for it to realize that it is a possibility. To choose death for itself, the animal has to know about itself and that it can die. It would also need some concept of the future in order to intend to die. Each of these requisites has been studied independently, and there is some evidence of some animals being capable of each. The mirror test is currently used to determine whether an animal has a concept of self. Some animals, such as some species of cetaceans and primates, are believed to grasp the concept of death enough to mourn conspecifics.{{Cite journal|last1=Reggente|first1=Melissa A. L.|last2=Alves|first2=Filipe|last3=Nicolau|first3=Cátia|last4=Freitas|first4=Luís|last5=Cagnazzi|first5=Daniele|last6=Baird|first6=Robin W.|last7=Galli|first7=Paolo|date=2016-09-27|title=Nurturant behavior toward dead conspecifics in free-ranging mammals: new records for odontocetes and a general review|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|language=en|volume=97|issue=5|pages=1428–1434|doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyw089|issn=0022-2372|doi-access=free}} Other species such as elephants will also mourn the death of loved ones and experience grief, often rubbing their trunks against remains and burying them with dirt.{{Cite book |last=King |first=Barbara J. |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo12233936.html |title=How Animals Grieve |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, IL |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2015-07-08 |title=The Depths of Animal Grief {{!}} NOVA {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/animal-grief/# |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en-US}}

Some animals, such as octopuses, stop eating food and waste away after reproducing, seemingly losing any desire to live. As this is a genetically programmed behavior that all individuals of the species engage in, it is not intentional and therefore cannot be considered suicide.{{Cite web |last=published |first=Stephanie Pappas |date=2022-05-18 |title=Octopuses torture and eat themselves after mating. Science finally knows why. |url=https://www.livescience.com/why-octopus-moms-self-destruct# |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=Live Science |language=en}}

Several risk-factors for suicide, such as addiction, depression, and PTSD, have already been modeled independently in animals.{{cite journal|last=Malkesman|first=Oz|display-authors=etal|date=April 2009|title=Animal Models of Suicide Trait-Related Behaviors|journal=Trends in Pharmacological Sciences|volume=30|issue=4|pages=165–173|doi=10.1016/j.tips.2009.01.004|pmc=2788815|pmid=19269045}}{{Cite journal |last=Preti |first=Antonio |date=2011-06-01 |title=Animal model and neurobiology of suicide |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278584611000686 |journal=Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry |series=Suicide and suicidal behavior |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=818–830 |doi=10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.10.027 |issn=0278-5846}} They have also been used to model endophenotypes that are associated with suicide.{{Cite journal |last=Roy |first=Bhaskar |last2=Dwivedi |first2=Yogesh |date=2021-09-01 |title=Modeling endophenotypes of suicidal behavior in animals |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763421000014 |journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews |volume=128 |pages=819–827 |doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.033 |issn=0149-7634|pmc=8257747 }} These animal models allow scientists to study the neuroscience behind these disorders as well as explore potential treatments. While demonstrating animal suicide itself in a lab is believed to be possible by some,{{Cite journal|last=Lester|first=David|date=2017-01-01|title=Non-human animal suicide could be tested|url=https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss20/3|journal=Animal Sentience|language=en|volume=2|issue=20|doi=10.51291/2377-7478.1286|issn=2377-7478|doi-access=free}} the ethics of driving an animal to kill itself are debated.{{Cite journal |last=Preti |first=Antonio |date=June 2011 |title=Animal model and neurobiology of suicide |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278584611000686 |journal=Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry |language=en |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=818–830 |doi=10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.10.027 |pmid=21354241 |s2cid=3459576}}{{Citation|last1=Comai|first1=Stefano|title=Translational Research in Suicide: Is It Possible to Study Suicide in Animal Models?|date=2016|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-26282-6_14|work=Understanding Suicide|pages=177–188|editor-last=Courtet|editor-first=Philippe|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-26282-6_14|isbn=978-3-319-26280-2|access-date=2021-10-23|last2=Gobbi|author2-link=Gabriella Gobbi|first2=Gabriella}} In the field, it can be difficult to not only find examples of suicide, but to be certain that the death was intentional, not accidental.

Many animals that appear to be depressed or grieving begin to exhibit self-destructive behavior that sometimes ends in death, but this is not considered suicide, as the achieving of death was not necessarily the purpose or objective of the behaviors.{{Cite journal |last=Eilam |first=David |date=2017-01-01 |title=Animals do not commit suicide but do display behaviors that are precursors of suicide in humans |url=https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss20/7/ |journal=Animal Sentience |volume=2 |issue=20 |doi=10.51291/2377-7478.1292 |issn=2377-7478|doi-access=free }}{{cite news|title=Many-animals-seem-to-kill-themselves-but-it-is-not-suicide|url=http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160705-many-animals-seem-to-kill-themselves-but-it-is-not-suicide}|newspaper=BBC|author =Melissa Hogenboom}}Or see: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160705-many-animals-seem-to-kill-themselves-but-it-is-not-suicide

In 1845, the Illustrated London News reported that a Newfoundland dog had been acting less lively over a period of days before being seen "to throw himself in the water and endeavor to sink by preserving perfect stillness of the legs and feet". Every time he was rescued he attempted to do this again before he finally held his head underwater until death.{{cite news|last=O'Hanlon|first=Larry|title=Animal Suicide Sheds Light on Human Behavior|url=http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/animal-suicide-behavior.htm|access-date=16 August 2013|newspaper=Discovery News|date=10 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326032017/http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/animal-suicide-behavior.htm |archive-date=26 March 2015}} The newspaper ran stories on other dogs, as well as ducks, that had also allegedly drowned themselves, although the veracity or certainty of these cases is disputed.{{cite journal|last=Maudsley|first=Henry|title=Alleged Suicide of a Dog|journal=Mind|date=July 1879|volume=4|issue=15|pages=410–413}} In one of the alleged cases, one duck did so after the death of its mate.

Another example of an alleged case of animal suicide is the case of the dolphin which most often portrayed Flipper on the 1960s television show Flipper. According to trainer Ric O'Barry in the film The Cove, Kathy, the dolphin, suffocated herself before him. The veracity or accuracy of this case has not been established in rigorous, scientific or objective terms.{{Cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1973486,00.html|title=Do Animals Commit Suicide? A Scientific Debate|last=Nobel|first=Justin|date=2010-03-19|newspaper=Time|issn=0040-781X|access-date=2017-01-26}}{{Cite journal|last=Peña-Guzmán|first=David|date=2017-01-01|title=Can nonhuman animals commit suicide?|url=https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss20/1|journal=Animal Sentience|volume=2|issue=20|doi=10.51291/2377-7478.1201 |issn=2377-7478|doi-access=free}} Similarly, a male bottle nose dolphin named Peter who was a subject in a series of experiments led by John C. Lilly, a neuroscientist, and Margaret Howe Lovatt, a volunteer naturalist, apparently stopped breathing after he was moved to a lab in a different location and separated from Lovatt.{{Cite news|last=Riley|first=Christopher|date=2014-06-08|title=The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong|language=en-GB|work=The Observer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolphin-who-loved-me|access-date=2020-11-04|issn=0029-7712}}{{Cite web|title=The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046w2n8|access-date=2018-04-16|website=BBC Four|language=en-GB}}

Some dogs will refuse food from some unknown person after the death of their owner, a behavior that might lead to disease or death in severe cases.{{cite news|last=Palmer|first=Brian|title=Hairy-Kiri: Do animals commit suicide|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/11/beached_whales_in_new_zealand_do_animals_commit_suicide_.html|access-date=16 August 2013|newspaper=Slate|date=16 November 2011}} The death of mourning animals is likely to be caused by depression leading to starvation or drowning, instead of the intent of suicide.

Aristotle described an unverified story involving one of the King of Scythia's horses dying by suicide after having been made to unwittingly impregnate its mother in his History of Animals.[https://textbase.scriptorium.ro/aristotle/aristotles_history_of_animals/book_the_ninth/chapter_xxxiv History of Animals], Book 9, Chapter 34.

Other cases of animals engaging in stress-related self-destructive behavior include birds engaging in feather-plucking, as well dogs and cats engaging in excessive licking.{{Cite web |date=2010-03-15 |title=Do Animals Commit Suicide? |url=https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/animals-commit-suicide.htm |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en-us}}

{{See also|Autothysis}}

Some species of social insects will die by suicide in an act of altruism through autothysis. These insects will sacrifice themselves if the colony is in danger, to alert the colony of danger, or if they become diseased they will sacrifice themselves to prevent the colony from becoming diseased. Carpenter ants and some species of termite will rupture glands and expel a sticky toxic substance thought to be an aliphatic compound. Termites will use autothysis to defend their colony, as the ruptured gland produces a sticky harmful secretion that leads to a tar baby effect in defense.{{Cite journal |url=https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01039798 |language=de |doi=10.1007/BF01039798 |title=Platzende Arbeiterinnen: Eine neue Art der Feindabwehr bei sozialen Hautflüglern |year=1974 |last1=Maschwitz |first1=Ulrich |last2=Maschwitz |first2=Eleonore |journal=Oecologia |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=289–294 |pmid=28308625 |bibcode=1974Oecol..14..289M |s2cid=23644298 }}{{cite journal |author1=C. Bordereau |author2=A. Robert |author3=V. Van Tuyen |author4=A. Peppuy |year=1997 |title=Suicidal defensive behavior by frontal gland dehiscence in Globitermes sulphureus Haviland soldiers (Isoptera) |journal=Insectes Sociaux |volume=44|issue=3 |pages=289–297 |doi=10.1007/s000400050049|s2cid=19770804 }} When threatened by a ladybug, the pea aphid will explode itself, protecting other aphids and sometimes killing the ladybug. Another example is the Camponotus saundersi, or Malaysian worker ant, which is capable of dying by suicide by exploding.{{Cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=T. H.|last2=Clark|first2=D. A.|last3=Edwards|first3=A. A.|last4=Davidson|first4=D. W.|last5=Spande|first5=T. F.|last6=Snelling|first6=R. R.|title=The Chemistry of Exploding Ants, Camponotus SPP. (Cylindricus COMPLEX)|journal=Journal of Chemical Ecology|language=en|volume=30|issue=8|pages=1479–1492|doi=10.1023/B:JOEC.0000042063.01424.28|issn=0098-0331|year=2004|pmid=15537154|bibcode=2004JCEco..30.1479J |s2cid=23756265}}

Honeybees use their stinger to deliver poisonous chemicals to their attacker, effectively both injuring the predator and killing the insect in the colony's defense.{{Cite journal|last=Hermann|first=Henry R.|date=June 1971|title=Sting autotomy, a defensive mechanism in certain social Hymenoptera|journal=Insectes Sociaux|language=en|volume=18|issue=2|pages=111–120|doi=10.1007/bf02223116|s2cid=42293043|issn=0020-1812}} This self-destructive and often altruistic defense is known as sting autonomy. The stinger is easily torn from the animal's body, allowing the hazardous stinger to be left stuck in the predator. Honey bees are the only bees to die after stinging.[http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/general_legends.html Urban Bee Gardens] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501141312/http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/general_legends.html |date=2010-05-01 }} Urban Bee Legends – by Jaime Pawelek

Lemmings are known to migrate when the population in their area becomes too large for its food supply. During these migrations, some will swim to cross bodies of water, but not all of them will make it back to land alive. This unfortunate consequence of migration has sometimes been perceived as an act of mass suicide. This myth has been popularized in various media.{{Cite journal|last=Clough|first=Garrett C.|title=Lemmings and Population Problems|date=1965|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27836007|journal=American Scientist|volume=53|issue=2|pages=199–212|jstor=27836007|issn=0003-0996}}

Certain types of parasites will cause their hosts to engage in suicidal behavior, through altering how the intermediate host acts, but this is not considered suicide (at least not considered suicide in a psychological or ethological sense). The change in the host's actions often benefit the parasite's search for a final host.{{Cite journal|last=Moore|first=Janice|date=April 1984|title=Altered Behavioral Responses in Intermediate Hosts – An Acanthoceptalan Parasite Strategy|journal=The American Naturalist|language=en|volume=123|issue=4|pages=572–577|doi=10.1086/284224|s2cid=86700440|issn=0003-0147}} A main example is the phylum Acanthocephala, which will direct its host to a predator so as to be eaten by the predator, their new definitive host. The parasitic worm Spinochordodes tellinii will develop in grasshoppers and crickets until it is grown, at which time it will cause its host to leap into water to its death so that the worm can reproduce in water.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7927 |title=Parasites brainwash grasshoppers into death dive |magazine=New Scientist |date=August 31, 2005 |author =Shaoni Bhattacharya}} However, S. tellinii only causes its host to drown when the host is already close to water as opposed to seeking it out over large distances.{{cite journal |title=Do hairworms (Nematomorpha) manipulate the water seeking behaviour of their terrestrial hosts? |author1=F. Thomas |author2=A. Schmidt-Rhaesa |author3=G. Martin |author4=C. Manu |author5=P. Durand |author6=F. Renaud |date=May 2002 |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=356–361 |doi=10.1046/j.1420-9101.2002.00410.x |citeseerx=10.1.1.485.9002 |s2cid=86278524 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii has been shown to alter the behavior of mice and rats in ways thought to increase the rodents’ chances of being preyed upon by cats.{{cite journal |last1=Webster |first1=JP |last2=McConkey |first2=GA |date=June 2010 |title=Toxoplasma gondii-altered host behaviour: clues as to mechanism of action |journal=Folia Parasitologica |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=95–104 |pmid=20608471 |doi=10.14411/fp.2010.012|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last=Webster |first=J. P.|title=The Effect of Toxoplasma gondii on Animal Behavior: Playing Cat and Mouse |journal=Schizophrenia Bulletin |year=2007|volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=752–756 |doi=10.1093/schbul/sbl073 |pmid=17218613|pmc=2526137}} Infected rodents show a reduction in their innate aversion to cat odors; while uninfected mice and rats will generally avoid areas marked with cat urine or with cat body odor, this avoidance is reduced or eliminated in infected animals.{{Cite journal|last1=Berdoy|first1=M.|last2=Webster|first2=J. P.|last3=Macdonald|first3=D. W.|date=2000|title=Fatal Attraction in Rats Infected with Toxoplasma gondii|journal=Proceedings: Biological Sciences|volume=267|issue=1452|pages=1591–1594|issn=0962-8452|jstor=2665707|doi=10.1098/rspb.2000.1182|pmid=11007336|pmc=1690701}} Moreover, some evidence suggests this loss of aversion may be specific to feline odors: when given a choice between two predator odors (cat or mink), infected rodents show a significantly stronger preference to cat odors than do uninfected controls.

Suicide induction in intermediate hosts has been shown to help disperse the parasites to their final hosts.{{Cite journal|last=Trail|first=Deborah R. Smith|s2cid=16777324|year=1980|journal=The American Naturalist|volume=116|pages=77–91|doi=10.1086/283612|hdl=1808/17548|title=Behavioral Interactions between Parasites and Hosts: Host Suicide and the Evolution of Complex Life Cycles|hdl-access=free}} The intermediate host of Parvatrema affinis is the bivalve mollusc, Macoma balthica.{{Cite journal|last=Swennen, Ching|year=1974|title=Observations on the trematode parvatrema affinis, causative agent of crawling tracks of macoma balthica|journal=Netherlands Journal of Sea Research|volume=8|issue=1|pages=108–115|doi=10.1016/0077-7579(74)90029-5|bibcode=1974NJSR....8..108S}} The clams feed when in the sublittoral and tidal flat muds, and usually leave no conspicuous marks in the mud that could indicate their presence. However, infected clams are concentrated in the higher parts of the tidal flats, closer to shore, and leave conspicuous zig-zag markings in the sand. Visual and tactile cues have shown to be used by oyster catchers and other shore birds, the definitive hosts of the parasite.

One of the proposed examples of animal suicide would most likely be the suicidal behavior of tarsiers that are kept in captivity. Tarsiers are nervous and shy by nature, and do not thrive in captivity. Many activities associated with captivity, such as camera flashes, being touched, and being kept in an enclosure, can stress the tarsiers. This stress can lead to sore eyes, which is an indication of a poor diet, and the lighting usually used in captivity can cause long-lasting damage to the eyes. When they feel too stressed out, they start beating their heads against hard surfaces, which leads to death.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=18 Facts About The Tarsier: Suicidal Monkey of Philippines!|website=Man vs Clock|publisher=|date=14 December 2022|url=https://manvsclock.com/tarsier-suicidal-monkey-bohol/|access-date=18 June 2023}}{{cite web|last=Bales|first=Bob|title=The Heartbreaking Story Of The Philippine Tarsier Of Bohol: And Why They Commit Suicide|website=The Traveling Fool|publisher=|date=11 November 2022|url=https://thetravellingfool.com/the-suicidal-primates-of-bohol/|access-date=18 June 2023}}{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Spectral Tarsier – Why are Tarsiers Suicidal?|website=Primates Park|publisher=|date=20 March 2022|url=https://www.primatespark.com/spectral-tarsier/|access-date=18 June 2023}}{{cite web|last=Mudditt|first=Jessica|title=Inside the Mystery of Animal 'Suicide'|website=VICE|publisher=|date=16 April 2018|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/do-animals-suicide-too/|access-date=18 June 2023}}{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Philippine Tarsiers, the Suicidal Primates|website=Treehugger|publisher=|date=7 March 2012|url=https://www.treehugger.com/tarsiers-cool-facts-about-these-wonderfully-weird-primates-4864006|access-date=18 June 2023}}

A popular misconception is that the lemming will die by mass suicide during reproduction. This misconception was first popularized by media in the 1960s, such as a mention in the Cyril M. Kornbluth short story "The Marching Morons" in 1951 and the 1955 comic "The Lemming with the Locket", inspired by a 1953 American Mercury article.Lederer, Muriel. "Return of the Pied Piper". The American Mercury, Dec. 1953, pp. 33–4.Blum, Geoffrey. 1996. "One Billion of Something", in: Uncle Scrooge Adventures by Carl Barks, #9. Perhaps one of the most influential factors in this misconception was the 1958 Academy Award-winning Disney film White Wilderness, which showed staged footage of lemmings jumping off a cliff during reproduction.{{Cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/white-wilderness/|title=Did Disney Fake Lemming Deaths for the Nature Documentary 'White Wilderness'?|website=Snopes.com|date=27 February 1996 }}

Werner Herzog's 2007 Academy Award-nominated documentary film Encounters at the End of the World features footage of a penguin marching away from the sea, going inland to its certain death.{{cite web |url=https://lwlies.com/articles/werner-herzog-penguin-encounters-at-the-end-of-the-world/ |title=What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us about life? |website=Little White Lies |access-date=28 December 2022 |first=Tim |last=Cooke |date=25 April 2017}} National Geographic dubbed the penguin "suicidal".{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/werner-herzog-e |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228205839/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/werner-herzog-e |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 28, 2022 |title=Herzogian Antarctica: Pink Floyd Seals and a Suicidal Penguin |first=Mary Anne |last=Potts |website=National Geographic |date=22 July 2008 |access-date=28 December 2022}}

• Antipredator adaptation
• Self-destructive behavior

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal|last=Hediger|first=Ryan|date=2018-01-01|title=Animal suicide and "anthropodenial"|url=https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss20/16|journal=Animal Sentience|volume=2|issue=20|doi=10.51291/2377-7478.1304|issn=2377-7478|doi-access=free}}

Suicide

Category:Antipredator adaptations

Category:Ethology

Category:Exploding animals

Category:Suicide