i saw this article pop up in my search a few days ago and it got me really excited! so i'm sharing it with the rest of you critters on cohost!!
in short, there is concrete evidence that suggests 'conscious experience' can be observed in a much wider breadth of species than previously thought, including cephalopods, crabs, and insects! it also suggests that such conscious experience is likely present in all vertebrate species, bringing reptiles, amphibians, and fish into the fold alongside mammals and birds.
the findings are based on several studies, and are the backing for the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, unveiled at a one-day conference on the subject earlier in April, and signed by numerous experts in related fields.
and now, if you'll excuse me, i'm going to ramble a bit about the topic myself!
i should start by stating that while i do have an academic background in biology and ecology, i'm in no way any sort of verified expert on this specific thing! this is purely my own opinions and thoughts on a topic that's always interested me!
this is really exciting, though! every time i hear about scientific research that helps confirm this notion of sentience in animals, and especially non-mammalian ones, i'm overwhelmed with this sense of joy and relief, because look - we're not alone in our experiencing of this world! bees play, zebrafish are curious, spiders, birds, cats, dogs and so so many more animals dream when they sleep! isn't that wonderful?
i've always clung to the belief that other animals are conscious in some form, and i think that's often painted me as someone naive and foolish to others - i refuse to needlessly harm animals if i can help it, even bugs and pests, and i care about how animals feel and respecting that, and that's so many times been reduced to a quirk of my personality rather than something of moral importance to me. if i squash a bug, i feel bad about it, and hope i at least made its end swift. more often than not, i shuttle them outside of my home to safety - my roommates can confirm i've caught many spiders, beetles, moths, and flies on their behalf.
they're not just animals, bugs, fish, things to me - they're fellow organisms that we share our existence with, and no one is more or less important. human exceptionalism is dead to me, and always has been.
it's nice to see an emerging scientific consensus on the topic, confirming what i'd already felt for so long. it makes my little therian heart warm and fluttery π
