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The belief that some animals commit suicide is classic. Many people think that scorpions, when cornered by fire, sting themselves to shorten the suffering and end their lives. Others think that lemmings throw themselves into the sea in a cinematic suicide to make room for other populations. “These beliefs have no foundation. Evolution tends to select organisms that have individual survival mechanisms, not life-interrupting mechanisms,” says ethologist (a student of animal behavior) César Ades, from the University of São Paulo (USP).
Thus, suicide as intentional death does not make sense from a biological perspective among irrational animals. “We can say that suicide is a prerogative of human beings. The symbolic capacity we have makes us capable of predicting and precipitating our death”, says Ades. The expert, however, makes a caveat: «It is true that animals can expose their life – and even lose it – in order to defend the very existence of the species». This is what happens with certain types of birds that, when the nest where they raise their young is threatened, drag themselves on the ground, in full view of the potential predator, simulating a broken wing. Or even what happens to some species of spiders found in Australia and in the Mediterranean region, in Europe, which allow themselves to be devoured by their young in a bizarre strategy of perpetuating the species.
Anyone who thinks that lemmings and scorpions kill each other is wrong
stung by mistake
When the scorpion is cornered in a circle of fire, it seems to throw its stinger over the body, in an apparent suicide. But that’s not exactly what happens. In these situations, the arachnid becomes agitated by the high temperature around it and loses control of its tail, giving the impression that it is trying to sting itself. But the animal actually dies from dehydration because of the heat.
falling off the cliff
Lemmings are small rodents that inhabit the cliffs of Scandinavia. The story that they jump off the cliff when there are population explosions is nothing more than a myth, in a movement designed to perpetuate the species. What happens is that when moving disorderly in flocks, many individuals fall pushed by those coming behind.