Do Animals "Commit Suicide"? 



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off a high wall and then ran into the sea, where, 

 after a few half-hearted strokes, it turned on 

 its back and drowned. The observer declares 

 his belief that the animal deliberately put itself 

 out of its miseries, but most of us cannot but 

 attribute the acts to temporary insanity. It is 

 difficult to separate sympathy, romance and tra- 

 dition from facts and cool judgment, in such 

 cases. It has been an ancient belief, for ex- 

 ample, coming down from the middle ages, that 

 a scorpion put within a circle of fire will sting 

 itself and die as soon as it perceives that there 

 is no escape; but not only do not modern scor- 

 pions turn to the felo de se as a release from 

 expected pain, but no scorpion could sting itself 

 to death if it tried. 



Perhaps the influence of these old fancies 

 lingered in the mind of Mr. Seton when in an- 

 other chapter of the same book he suggests sui- 

 cide as the final proud and praiseworthy act of 

 a wild stallion, which for years had baffled all 

 pursuers. At last, however, an organized effort 

 for the capture of the " pacing mustang " was 

 at the point of success : 



