Penguins

[wrightsusan]

Why did thousands of penguins commit suicide in the Antarctic in June 1990?

wrightsusan

[Quizmonster]

Suicide is the choosing of an act of deliberate self-destruction. As regards birds/animals, the problem lies in the words �choosing' and �deliberate' with their connotations of free will and rational but abstract thinking. No animal is capable of such thought processes; indeed, I very much doubt whether any animal has any concept of personal death at all.
So, lots of penguins may have died in June 1990...I don't know...but they most certainly did not 'commit suicide'.

[Kozmic Blues]

How did you come to that conclusion??

Researchers suspect that they died due to a biological toxin like a red tide and, again, scientists say the evidence points to climate change as the culprit. Such toxic blooms are associated with warming ocean waters.

Ten of the world's 17 penguin species are already listed as threatened or endangered.

Though a few species are thriving, "penguins, in general, are experiencing some really serious problems.In addition to climate change,overfishing and oil spills threaten these flightless birds.

kozmic

[supermonkey]

They had lost faith in the British legal system following a number of limp wristed sentences handed down by nutty judges. Either that or what the first guy said

[jaberwocky]

big brother had started.

[gen2]

Whatever it was that killed them, I was fortunate enough to survive. I think it was my yellow-eyed cousins that suffered most in that terrible episode. See New Scientist