
Birds that seemingly commit suicide - Hollavick
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151129-the-birds-that-seemingly-commit-suicide
======
brunorsini
Werner Herzog's amazing documentary on Antarctica
([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093824](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093824))
briefly discusses depression and suicide among penguins.

It's pure Herzog goodness. Though he sounds almost like a caricature of
himself in the passage the reflection is still thought provoking:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWH_9VRWn8Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWH_9VRWn8Y)

------
jezclaremurugan
Nothing in this article suggests that the birds die intentionally (suicide).
They drown accidentally. Linkbaity title?

~~~
ars
Very linkbaity title - content of article is not in the slightest like title.
And the title on HN is not the title from the BBC article anyway.

Better title: When Starlings drown accidentally, group mentality causes them
to drown in groups.

Not an exciting title, but accurate.

~~~
miander
Actually, that title isn't accurate either because the article doesn't claim
that to be the case; it only speculates. Nor does it even rule out some form
of "suicide".

------
jamesfisher
> They can’t be suicidal

Maybe they could. We know of various parasites which turn their hosts
suicidal: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-
altering_parasites_an...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-
altering_parasites_and_parasitoids)

