Animal suicide is when an animal intentionally ends its own life through its actions.[1] It implies a wide range of higher cognitive capacities that experts have been wary to ascribe to nonhuman animals such as a concept of self, death, and future intention. There is currently not enough empirical data on the subject for there to be a consensus among experts.[2] For these reasons, the occurrence of animal suicide is controversial among academics.[3] While it has not been proven that non-human animals do, or even can, die by suicide, many animals behave in ways that may seem suicidal. There are anecdotes of animals refusing to eat in periods of grief or stress.[4][5] Some social insects have been known to defend their colony by sacrificing themselves.[6] Other animals are victims of parasites that are known to alter the behavior of their host to complete their lifecycle, which result in the host's death.[7]