A Chinese woman captured a young swan appearing to commit suicide after the death of its mother

This is the moment a young swan apparently drowned itself in distress after the death of its mother.
Hiker Yan Yan Hsiao captured the moment the swan appeared to commit suicide.

She said she only noticed the young bird because it was making a commotion and flapping its wings in the water.
Apparently traumatised by the death of another bird, the swan stuck its head in the water, and minutes later, was also dead.


She said: 'I looked over and saw the swan which was clearly a young animal alongside an older bird that was clearly dead.

'She had either died because of the cold or old age but either way the young bird was very distressed.

'After calling and flapping its wings, it then stuck its head in the water and I thought it had calmed down, but then I realised it was keeping its head in the water.

'Minutes later, it was dead.'

She said she had been taking photographs of the swan not realising she was capturing its death at the park lake in Sanmenxia, in Central China's Henan province.

Scientists have debated for years whether instances where an animal deliberately claims its own life because of depression can be classed as suicide

But examples date back to 1855, when the illustrated London News reported a dog had thrown itself into the water to drown and had repeated the action several times until passers-by finally allowed to sink.

There have also been numerous cases of ducks apparently drowning themselves after the death of a mate.