Evolution’s Strangest Tactic | Tales From the Bottle
If natural selection favours traits that increase an organism’s ability to survive, how did self-destruction evolve as one of these traits?
“Autothysis (from the Greek roots autos- Îąá˝ĎĎĎ “self” and thysia Î¸Ď ĎÎŻÎą “sacrifice”) or suicidal altruism is the process where an animal destroys itself via an internal rupturing or explosion of an organ which ruptures the skin. The term was proposed by Ulrich Maschwitz and Eleonore Maschwitz in 1974 to describe the defensive mechanism of Colobopsis saundersi, a species of ant. It is caused by a contraction of muscles around a large gland that leads to the breaking of the gland wall. Some termites (such as the soldiers of Globitermes sulphureus) release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a tar effect in defense against ants.”
More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autothysis
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@Qxir
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
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@lonelyPorterCH
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I don't think those bees "know" they die, because they don't even habe a sence of self anyways, they just do what instincts/evolution tells them too
@BlueBalls-jm3ic
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Swans and geese kill themselves when they lose their mates and I believe it to be intentional. They won't put themselves into a situation where they'll get killed instantly but they starve themselves for weeks going against their own feeding instinct
@Unknown-lf2kl
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I love YouTube bot I know this contained so-called word of suicide I accepted and still wanted to see it because I know there's something to learn about in nature and my account is above 18 but it still won't show me the video because it's saying Ted apparently my account is not eligible for it -_-
@stephenwright8824
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
4:54 Disney's film was titled "White Wilderness." Talk about telegraphing sentiment.
@jonathanmiller527
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
My parents dog starve herself when they're not at home. Quite problematic when they're gone for a week. It's a long game for suicide but it's as close as it gets
@The_D_ray
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Wait, so does that mean that Peter, the dolphin from that Nasa experiment thing, DIDN'T necessarily commit suicide after being relocated?
@swhip3
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
And then you have pets sitting on its master's grave.
@YeeSoest
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I like that animals don't have PRIDE. You're stronger? Ok. Some species will run away or avoid you completely, Cats may hate and ignore you, Dogs will most likely go "Cool, Boss, tell me what's next! You're in charge, what are we doing? A walk?" But there's no negative emotions attached to being outmatched, it's just a fact of life and you move on in the new hierarchy. A lot of humans will hate their new place in line and try to reestablish the previous status quo at almost ANY cost.
An animal would never…
@Shaun_Jones
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
It is worth noting that worker bees, ants, and termites are infertile (in fact most worker ants only live a few weeks anyway), so their destruction has no impact whatsoever on passing on genes.
@FreddyMcDeady
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Humans can be sick man, the things they do to animals for entertainment or "research purposes" is monstrous, some of the stories piss me off to the point where the idea of doing cruel experiments on humans doesn't bother me, because screw humans those sick animal torturing bastards. There was an old movie where they forced a horse to run off a cliff, entirely for entertainment purposes, finding out about disney forcing lemmings off a cliff reminded me of that. All the "scientific" experiments on animals, which half the time seem like a BS excuse for some abusive psycho to torture animals. Yeah humans can bite it lol
@FreddyMcDeady
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
There's one miserable story I heard about a Dolphin, There's this psychonaut scientist named John C Lilly, known for creating & popularizing the Self Depravation tank & experimenting with Ketamine & other psychoactives, this dude became obsessed with dolphins, studying them, drugging them (I think that's a horrible thing to do but anyways), trying to communicate with them & teaching them to communicate in a human language. He had a female assistant who became very close to this particular dolphin, that was isolated & kept in a pool at his makeshift research center, this woman even "relieved" the animal sexually but, as she says, not for any perverted reason but to maintain the dolphin's focus for the sake of research (apparently theyre difficult to deal with when theyre 'in the mood' so..lol) & eventually the experiments ended & Lilly & his assistant abandoned the dolphin, shortly afterwards the dolphin drowned itself presumably due to depression & loneliness, missing his 'girlfriend', I was surprised to learn dolphins can drown themselves on purpose.
But yeah that story is very depressing & figured I'd share it here.
@ImTextingMyDog
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
The bee sting is a great example of how evolution does NOT have intelligent design. It simply moves forward and the succeasful adaptations keep going with it.
@dangusmomangus3003
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Meanwhile humans act like its the same as saying voldemort
@dennisneo1608
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I'll never figure out why the word suicide is not YouTube friendly
@TinaPutchel
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I was thinking dolphins. That male named Peter that was on a scientific study and was in love with his human companion Margaret. When they ended the study Peter pined away and chose to sink to bottom of his tank and stop breathing
@matttrafton2725
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I can't wait until I have a halfway decent reason to suicide out. So anxious to see what comes next. I hope my past dogs are waiting to greet me.
@notcomplying
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
These drawings are next level hilarious, glad I stumbled upon this
@BurningLemonTree
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I guess I thought honeybees had a muscle contraction that pushed venom through the barbed stinger, didn't know they stabbed with a two sided sawzall that pushed venom on a third spike, with a continuous application and chemical alarm system attached.
Silly me for thinking insect physiology was simple or straightforward.
@DerekAdler-c5q
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Sloths migrate? Jesus, it must take decades.
@mitchelldigitalcompany
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Prying mantis male?
@juniquefolks657
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
âdicked by the dangling dong of destiny in doing soâ is PĹTRY
@aedrix4778
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Would love to watch this video as it sounds genuinely intriguing but even when I click the "I understand" prompt when it gives me the warning, it just puts me into a content warning that blocks the video. What is even the point to having a prompt to click if YouTube is just going to block me from it anyway.
@YoutubeAccount7135
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
i hate youtube
@EnagaTori
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I think self-aware animals who can comprehend death within their own species can understand the world will ho on without them for the exact same reason WE understand that. We see that when another member of our species dies, WE go on without them, ergo when we die, others will go on without us as well.
@benthomason3307
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
actually, it turns out that we already DO have examples of animals deliberately killing themselves to end pain. Horses have been known to do this to escape horrendous abuse or after eating agonizingly poisonous plants like gimpy-gimpy, for example.
@BrianPerry-r8p
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
That was a good oneđ
@theguybehindyou694
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Some bees swarm around wasps in a big Ball O Bees and buzz so much, the heat bakes the wasps. The bees are more resistant to the high temperature, but some of them do still die in the process.
@LevelNoneMusic
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
NO MENTION OF THE DOLPHIN I SEE HOW IT IS
@xenalin1
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
7:00 more like "break ass"
@ChrissieBear
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I know a dolphin that starved itself to death out of depression.
@DonutGuy640
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
To me, the funniest part of all this was how TikTok is what drives dogs to off themselves
@spacewater7
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Aye sacrifice of the self to benefit the many is a noble cause and quality in a person. Or a đ too apparently. But what of those who sacrifice the many to benefit the few? (Usually themselves obviously. đ˘)
@nightraysmoon
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Wasn't there something about people teaching American politics to a chimp and it bit the dust once it understood
@PutitinDaramen
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
a dolphin committed [the act] when it was [touched] by its keeper. he swam to the bottom and intentionally did not surface till he drowned.
@blacksheepmike9101
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
âDicked by the dangling dong of destinyâ is my new favorite quote
@fernandabonettokrososki9003
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
1:55
@fuckboi_killa
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Ric O'Barry, a former trainer for the television show Flipper, has often spoken about the death of Kathy. He reported that she looked him in the eye, sank to the bottom of her concrete tank, and deliberately stopped breathing, which he described as suicide
@Wadethewallaby2001
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Especially yellow jacket those fuckers will sting you repeatedly if you disturb their nest however, if theyâre alone, as long as you donât bother them, theyâre actually peaceful one of them actually laying down on my momâs arm, and it didnât sting her because it only activate when the hive is threatened.
@hazard2366
September 15, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Butt rapier
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