A recent article in Science News discussed sexual cannibalism. In the case of the australian redback spider, the male actually flips himself over to position himself in front of the female’s mouth, and the female eats the male during copulation. The conjecture from the biologists was that if the female is distracted by eating the male, copulation will last longer and the male will have a better chance to fertilize the female. Also, the male spends a lot of energy to find a female and probably wouldn’t make it to another web anyway, so why not try to make the most of this one encounter?
Actually, suicide IS against the law. I don’t know exactly why, but I’m sure there are some minor legal nuances that would require it to be so.
To committ suicide is to willingly take end one’s own existence. To do this, one must be self-aware. That is, you have to know that you actually have a life in order to do something to end it for the express purpose of ending it. I doubt that dogs and cats who don’t eat are deliberately doing so because they want to end their lives - they don’t have the intellectual capacity to make such a rational thought. Therefore, animals that run themselves off of cliffs or offer themselves up for cannibalism, etc, are not really committing suicide - they’re following some ingrained instinct for the purpose of following that instinct, NOT for the purpose of ending their lives. They don’t have a choice in the matter in other words.
I would imagine that suicide is against the law so that it is easier for the state to impose penalties against the estates of people who commit suicide, i.e. denying insurance benefits.
It could also be a holdover for from medieval times.
Once, many years ago when I had a real job (as a welder) me and a buddy were working inside this shop when a giant ground hornet flew in. This is one of those three inch long buggers that are really intimidating. Anyway, it’s making us nervous so my buddy graps a can of roach spray. I said, “Idiot, that’s just going to piss him off!” But my buddy started spraying. I guess the hornet was confused, at first, then too wet with bug spray after a few seconds to do anything. So it fell to the window sill, flapping it’s wings and writhing in obvious pain. It was pretty clear that this big bug was in some serious hurt. After about a minute, it flipped over on it’s back, stopped it’s wings and very deliberately stuck it’s stinger into it’s head (it went in beside the eye). After about a second, all motion stopped and the thorax relaxed a bit so that the stinger slipped out. A drop of clear fluid was clinging to the stinger… the hornet was dead.
Also, I’ve made scorpions sting themselves to death before. Taunt them with the tip of a pencil by tapping them on the back, eventually they get themselves between the segments…
Hey, if you’d ever been stung by one, you wouldn’t think that was cruel!!!
Since when does the state run the insurance industry? I think a more logical answer is that the state doesn’t want to lose a revenue stream (ie. taxpayer). But really, is somebody who is thinking of suicide going to change their mind because it is illegal?
“He love people, all of them, washed and unwashed; he loves his wretched pack of sponging relatives. He shoots people, arrests people, but he doesn’t like it.”
“If I had to live your life, I’d be begging to have someone pop out both my eyes. Just in case I came across a mirror.” - android209 (in the Pit) Zettecity
Voted “Most Empathetic”- can you believe that?
[quote}The longest fangs of any snake are those of the Gaboon viper (Bitis gabonica), of tropical Africa. In a 6-ft-long speimen, the fangs measured 1.96 in. A Gaboon viper bit itself to death on Feb 12, 1963 in the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens. Keepers found the dead snake with its fangs deeply embedded in its own back.[quote]
Of course the question this brings up is:
You’ve got to be kidding. Bitis gabonica?
Now with 1000 posts of pure wisdom!
(or something)
It seems like this thread has run its course but here’s my $0.02.
Many animals will do things that lead directly to their death even though the motive is not suicide. Salmon waste all their energies to swim up a river to procreate even though this leads to their deaths.
Many animals, including many birds, will refuse to live in captivity and will cause themselves to die. Have you ever seen a sparrow in a small cage? Not only will it not eat but it will injure itself hurling itself against the bars. Of course this behavior can be analized differently:
the bird is deliberately trying to kill itself rather than live imprisoned
the bird is simply distressed and acting irrationally
the bird is just to stupid to realize the consequences.
Certain animals (e.g. elephants) do have very strong emotions and emotional bonds and can be very distressed by losing a family member. This can lead to behavior which will cost them their life (staying with the dead body rather than carrying on with their life) even if that is not the primary intent.
Seems reasonable to presume that animals, not just including humans, committ suicide and mortal self-sacrifice; to presume so is at least as reasonable as to presume not. Agreed? My immediate imaginations turn to pigeons and bees. …then dogs and cats. Cats will stop eating. Dogs will pick a death fight. pigeons will walk in front of a car. Bees will contradict the queen.
Seems reasonable to presume that animals, not just including humans, committ suicide and mortal self-sacrifice; to presume so is at least as reasonable as to presume not. Agreed? My immediate imaginations turn to pigeons and bees. …then dogs and cats. Cats will stop eating. Dogs will pick a death fight. pigeons will walk in front of a car. Bees will contradict the queen.
“Regarding Little Red Riding Hood: The Big Bad Wolf couldn’t be all bad, if he would eat your grandmother. Not even your Grandpa would do that.”–George Carlin
I think you would need for more precisely define what you mean by ‘suicide’. People who deliberately choose to end their lives make a conscious decision to do so with full knowledge of the result - that is, death. I don’t believe that animals have the ability to make that sort of conscious decision.
However, I’ve seen extremely ill or severely injured animals who were eating and drinking normally at first suddenly refuse food and water. I’ve also seen elderly animals ‘pine away’ after losing their long-time home or owner. It’s impossible to know if there is an underlying, undiagnosed physical reason for this, but it APPEARS that these animals have lost their ‘will to live’ - that is, they no longer feel motivated to continue those conscious actions (as opposed to involuntary actions, such as breathing) that will maintain life.
However, I don’t think this is a conscious decision on the animal’s part. If you are going to choose to die, why suffer more than necessary by choosing starvation or dying of thirst? I think that if animals were capable of consciously deciding to end their lives, they would pick a quick and sure method such as eating poison or throwing themselves in front of a car.
Animals certainly can become depressed and go into a decline and die. At the veterinary clinic where I work, we often treat sick animals whose physical condition has improved but that still refuse to eat or drink until they are visited by their owners, after which they will perk up and begin improving rapidly.
Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant.
So, at just what point would you say the suicide/bluff has “worked.”
Wouldn’t the most convincing or enduring bbluff be one that extends from the grave?
So, at just what point would you say the suicide/bluff has “worked.”
Wouldn’t the most convincing or enduring bbluff be one that extends from the grave?
