• Question: is it true that dolphins and whales become lonely and can commit suicide if they are lonely? also if there was water on mars why have animals not evolved outof the water just like we did on earth?

    Asked by to James, Natalie, Shaylon on 26 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: James Bell

      James Bell answered on 26 Jun 2014:

      Ok so that’s two pretty different questions

      Do Dolphins commit suicide whilst in captivity?

      Dolphins and whales are very intelligent sociable creatures whose mental health does depend a lot on their environment. In several cases, there have been instances of aggression, self-harm and other unusual behaviours. If you watch the excellent documentary ‘Blackfish’ about orcas and Seaworld, you’ll see that some people have actually died in events of aggression from captive cetaceans (toothed whales and dolphins). Seaworld categorically denies this is because of their living conditions, even though such a thing never happens in the wild.

      Some people think dolphins have attempted suicide (either by hurting themselves, refusing to eat or even refusing to come up to breathe!) so yes I think they probably could. I think loneliness is probably part of the problem but there’s also other issues like a lack of proper stimulation they would get from hunting for food.

      Water and life on Mars

      It’s possible that there was once life on Mars and there’s certainly water and evidence of great rivers on the surface. However, the reason Mars currently doesn’t have liquid water is because of it’s size. The Earth as you’ll know has a core of liquid rock and metal that rotates inside of it. This rotation of molten Iron creates a magnetic field around the Earth (magnetosphere) that protects the planet from harmful cosmic rays from the sun. As Mars is smaller, the core solidified a long time ago and stopped making this magnetic field and the cosmic rays gradually eroded the atmosphere. Mars is now left with a very thin atmosphere than doesn’t retain heat well, meaning all the water is frozen.

      Although Mars might have supported life at some point, there’s no evidence that it does any more (although we may still find microbes beneath the surface) and it’s pretty unlikely that it ever supported complex lifeforms like animals (which take a very long time to evolve)

    • Photo: Natalie Pilakouta

      Natalie Pilakouta answered on 26 Jun 2014:

      Hi Jonah, even if there is water on another planet, it doesn’t mean that life will evolve the same way as it did on Earth. This is because of many reasons, like the chemicals that might be in the water, the temperature of the water, the lack of oxygen, etc.

    • Photo: Shaylon Stolk

      Shaylon Stolk answered on 26 Jun 2014:

      Whales and dolphins are incredibly intelligent animals with rich social lives. Being separated from their own kind is very stressful for them, as is being in environments without enough stimulation, the wrong kind of stimulation (lots of loud noises or harassment from humans), or not enough room to swim. Many intelligent species such as horses, dogs, and parrots, will exhibit self-destructive behaviour under extreme stress.
      I used to work at a zoo, and we had beluga whales as part of an endangered species breeding program. We put a lot of effort into giving them a nice environment– a big tank, toys, and whale friends, and they were generally happy. But when one of them got sick and died, the other whales were incredibly upset and actually refused to eat for awhile, and kept going to his favourite spots in the enclosure as though they were looking for him. So they certainly form strong social bonds and are unhappy when those are taken away.

      As for life on other planets, it might not even be water-dependent like it is on Earth! There might also be other reasons, such as atmospheric composition and temperature, why Mars doesn’t support life (at least not any that’s like Earth life).

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