When the grain is dug, the mice will be "angry" and hang themselves on the branches of the tree

When I was a child, I was very naughty. I used mud to make an airtight "house" for frogs on the field ridge.

At that time, digging mouse holes was not for one bite, or just for fun, mainly because I wanted to catch mice, and I never thought about the consequences of taking away the mice's food.

Sometimes, when showing off the spoils, the old man will say something: "Take their food, the mice will die, and they will climb up the branches and hang themselves on the branches."

At the time, I was skeptical, because I didn’t take it seriously because I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Now I think about it, the statement that “take away the food from the mice, the mice will commit suicide” is still very outrageous.

First, mice do not commit suicide;

Animal suicide is controversial in academia.

In 1845 there were news reports of a Newfoundland dog trying to drown himself in water. In order to achieve its purpose, after it is put into the water, there is no struggle. This behavior has been stopped many times by the owner, and every time it is rescued, it will still do so until "as wished", it drowned by itself;

At present, if the enemy cannot be beaten, the Sang's flat-headed ant will "self-destruct", killing the enemy and killing itself.

There are many cases of animal deaths like this, however, most scientists still believe that only individuals with higher cognitive abilities like humans can grasp concepts such as self, death, and future, and animals do not have this ability.

Those so-called "suicide deaths" events of animals are not real suicide behaviors, because death is not their ultimate goal, they do not die for the sake of death, but indirectly lead to death under the influence of certain factors, and death is only the behavior of animals One of the additional results.

For example, the Newfoundland dog appears to be throwing water, which may be under the influence of depression or sadness and other stress, abnormal behavior, unable to save itself in the water, and drowning; Sang's flat-headed ant will self-destruct, to protect the entire ant family, death is an additional the result of.

In addition to these two reasons, animals also "suicide" because of parasites.

The snails parasitized by double disc flukes will become extra active and flamboyant, and they are not afraid of bird predation. good to complete the transmission of parasites.

Why do you see rats dying on the edge of the granary?

I think the main possibilities are as follows:

1. to starve to death;

Rat, generally refers to the rodent family of animals, about 500 species.

Most members of the murine family do not hibernate. The mouse voles in our mouths are rodents that do not hibernate, but they store food in response to cold weather.

The old man in the village once joked: "The voles store a lot of food, which used to be packed in sacks. The food from the three voles dens is enough for a family of seven to eat for a few days, but sometimes it is too much. I was scolded by the elders, thinking that I would starve to death if I took too many mice to survive the winter, and they asked me to return some to the mice."

Most mice, unlike squirrels that hide food in multiple places, have only one granary. If the mice's reserves are taken away, they will starve to death because they can't find food.

2. "To die of anger";

Many people think that mice are very angry. Once they find that the food is gone, they will be mad to death.

In my opinion, it is still too anthropomorphic to use "angry death", and "depression" is more appropriate.

Scientists believe that mice can also suffer from "depression." Imagine that in the cold winter, the food itself is scarce, the food that I have worked so hard to save is stolen again, and the mice are cold and hungry.

In this case, the mice will also be depressed, resulting in abnormal behavior. At this time, the mice are likely to take the initiative to "starvate", stay motionless near their nests, and do not look for food until they starve to death.

3. Disease

I had raised a mouse before, and the deepest impression was that it was fine the first day, but the pet mouse died suddenly the next day. It can be said to be a sudden death, and I still don’t know what caused it.

After checking the information, it is found that the "sudden death" of pet rats is relatively common, but when we investigate the cause, it is not as simple as we imagined, and the death is not sudden.

In fact, most mice will be plagued by diseases, but as animals at the bottom of the food chain, even if they are sick, they will hide the symptoms of the disease well. That is to say, when the mice are sick, we cannot see it with the naked eye.

Pet rats are well cared for, and "sudden death" is still common. What's more, rats in the wild face more difficulties, and there is almost no possibility of natural death. It is also very possible for a weaker mouse to die suddenly at the entrance of the hole under the double-layer blow without food.

4. Artificial

Those suicidal behaviors that look like rats "hanging themselves on a tree branch" are, I believe, man-made.

When I was a child, the way my friends played tricks on mice can be said to be colorful, and it was common to tie them with ropes. It is still a bit cruel when I think about it now.

at last

In fact, there are many things about animals, which are all imagined by people themselves.

Take lemmings jumping into the sea to commit suicide. There are too many lemmings and limited resources. In order to allow future generations to live a better life, some lemmings voluntarily sacrificed themselves and collectively jumped into the sea to commit suicide.

People sighed that the lemmings' bravery and unwillingness to turn back are just imaginary.

In fact, lemmings can swim and jump into the sea in order to migrate elsewhere, and it is not "suicide".

Likewise, rats, who lose stored food, will starve, freeze to death, get sick and die, and be harmed by humans, but will not "hang themselves".