Animals are capable of pure sorrow when they lose someone close to them,of course I am not saying all animal has emotion and felling,the animals who give birth to live young,and most of these animal will possess specialized teeth,mammals placentals who use a placenta during gestation. These mammalian brain regulates endothermic and circulatory systems, including a beating heart,they are emotional animal!!!
There are about 5000 species of living mammals.You know?these amazing animals not only live on land, we can found them at sea, in the air, or even under the ground..Whales & Dolphins ,they are mammals,dolphins are highly social animals with large brains,they even show empathy towards one another,like some sort of love relational ship..
Most typical example of these animal are dog,cat,cow,So,if they having felling,emotion,does mammals consciously commit suicide under certain circumstances ?Do they know ,hate,angry when someone try to kill them?
Do any animals other than humans commit suicide?
Some people argue that animal has no intelligent ,they are lower grade that we can kill ,eat, abandoned,whatsoever.It has commonly been assumed that "we"are the only creatures that understand what is "happiness","sadness","playfulness","depressed",..etc.They don't even have a well-developed sense of self before we could even consider the idea that they might decide to voluntarily end their lives.
Quotes from amswer.com
via:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_any_animals_other_than_humans_commit_suicide:
~ In order for an act to be classed as "suicide," the agent must know that what it is about to do will end its life. In order to have this awareness, the agent must also understand that it could exist in one of two possible states: alive or dead. These sorts of thoughts are far too abstract for any known animal to think, even the more intelligent non-humans like Chimpanzees, Bonobos, and Dolphins ~
Well,clearly there is nothing to do with "self awareness". Is it a case for an animal to commit suicide if they know that they will die at the end of reproduction. We see it with octopuses, salmon, Japanese foliage spider and even the male shrew. All of which willingly sacrifice themselves for the lives of their offspring, an i believe that they are aware of their impending fate as they are more in touch with their body systems than we are. So does the drive to reproduce overriding the will to live count as suicide.
I have seem people who abuse their pets,hunting and killing animal just for "fun",these people might think that they are just "animal"with no brain,low level creatures,life that doesn't have any value..Realize that animals have feelings too so ,try to act kindly towards all creatures now - even little ants and bugs (there are not your prisoner!!!!!!!).
You night also check out following articles for the topic animals suicide
Depressed Kangaroo Committed Suicide
3 stories to Proof Animals Can Commit Suicide
Animals-do-not-commit-suicide (FALSE)
Elephants-see-themselves-in-the-mirror