خودکشی جانوران

خودکشی جانوران به بررسی هر گونه رفتار نابودکننده خود که از جانوران غیر از انسان سر می‌زند و به گونه‌ای به عمل خودکشی شباهت دارد، می‌پردازد. با وجود آنکه اعتقاد رایج بر این است که انسان تنها موجودی است که با علم به پی‌آمد خودکشی دست به این کار می‌زند، گفته می‌شود که گاهی برخی حیوانات خانگی که جفتشان را از دست داده‌اند، اقدام به نابودی خود کرده‌اند. همچنین برخی جانوران تک‌همسر پس از مرگ جفتشان از خوردن غذا امتناع می‌کنند. دیده شده که برخی حیوانات عمدا خود را از صخره‌ای به پایین پرتاب کرده‌اند.

برخی گونه‌های انگل با زیر اثر گذاشتن رفتار میزبانشان، سبب می‌شوند که میزبان خود را بیش‌تر در معرض خطر شکار شدن قرار دهد تا انگل بتواند به چرخه بعدی زندگی خود در بدن شکارچی منتقل شود. برخی مورچه‌های درودگر و موریانه‌ها در یک رفتار نابودگرانه، گونه‌ای ماده چسب‌ناک از خود ترشح می‌کنند تا غارتگران کلونی را به دام بی‌اندازند و شته‌های نخودفرفنگی گاهی به جهت محافظت از دیگر هم‌نوعانشان از حمله کفش‌دوزک‌ها، خود را منفجر می‌کنند.

رفتار خودکشی‌مآبانه

It is generally considered that humans are the only known animals with forethought that will purposefully put an end to their own life. There are examples of non-human animals dying in defence of their family or colony, but they are not doing this with any intention of destroying themselves. Many animals that appear to be depressed or grieving begin to exhibit self-destructive behavior that sometimes ends in death. 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. Other dogs, as well as ducks, have also drowned themselves. One duck did so after the death of its mate. At Overtoun Bridge in Scotland, many dogs have been known to leap to their deaths; although long reported to be suicide, many scientists have now attributed it to the smell of mink. Some dogs will refuse food after the death of their owner until they die as well. In 2009, 28 cows and bulls mysteriously threw themselves off a cliff in the آلپ سوئیس over the span of three days. One deer leapt from a cliff to its death so as to avoid being captured by hunting dogs. Suicidal behavior has been observed more in female animals than male and in more vertebrates than invertebrates.

Animal suicide was long used to define human suicide; in the 1800s animal suicide was seen as an act of abuse, madness, love, or loyalty, the same acts human suicide was seen as. Although it is impossible to determine what drives animals to self-destruction, some specific traits associated with human suicide can be successfully transferred to animals. Scientists have been unable to explain whether animals are able to consciously end their own lives.

نابودی خود

مورچه درودگرs and some species of موریانه will rupture glands in a process called autothysis. Termites will use autothysis to defend their colony, as the ruptured gland produces a sticky secretion that leads to a tar baby effect in defense. When threatened by a کفش‌دوزک, the pea aphid will explode itself, protecting other aphids and sometimes killing the ladybug.

انگل‌های خودکش

Certain types of انگلs will cause their میزبان (زیست‌شناسی) to commit suicidal behavior. A main example is the phylum خارسرتباران, 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 ملخs and جیرجیرک 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. 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.

Infection with توکسوپلاسما گوندی 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. 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. 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.

برداشت‌های نادرست

A popular misconception is that the موش قطبی will commit خودکشی گروهی during migration. 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. Perhaps one of the most influential factors in this misconception was the جایزه اسکار-winning شرکت والت دیزنی film برهوت سفید, which showed staged footage of lemmings jumping off a cliff during migration.