Do octopuses, squid and crabs have emotions?

A York University expert in animal minds says that whether or not animals have emotions is being debated, and that it could shake up humans' moral decision-making.

The United Kingdom is considering amending its animal welfare legislation to recognize that sentient beings, such as crabs, lobsters and crayfish, can feel pain.

A London School of Economics report commissioned by the U.K. government concluded that crustaceans and molluscs are sentient.

The ethical and policy issues around animals being considered sentient were discussed in an article written by Professor Frans de Waal, director of the Living Links Center at Emory University.

It has been thought that fish and mammals don't have feelings or feel pain. It is pretty cutting-edge what is happening in the U.K.

Until the 1980s, pre-verbal human babies were not considered to feel pain. Many people still think that animals don't feel pain and only have unconscious reactions to negative stimuli. There are signs of empathy in some animals, such as cows, when they see their calf in pain, and research has shown they avoid pain and dangerous locations.

There is a moral and ethical dilemma. Humans can say what they feel, but animals don't have the same tools for describing their feelings.

We try not to harm other beings when we are going about our normal lives. retraining the way we see the world is what it is about. How to treat other animals remains an open research question. We need more co-operation between ethicists and scientists.

There may be a point when humans can no longer assume that crustaceans don't feel pain.

She says that if they can no longer be considered immune to felt pain, they will need to become part of the moral landscape. Invertebrates may experience other emotions such as curiosity in exploration, affection for individuals, or excitement in anticipation of a future reward.

It might be time to look at our world differently.

More information: Frans B. M. de Waal, The question of animal emotions, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abo2378. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo2378 Journal information: Science Citation: Do octopuses, squid and crabs have emotions? (2022, March 24) retrieved 24 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-octopuses-squid-crabs-emotions.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.