Animal Emotion: Here Are Several Ways to Know What Animals Feel

Animal emotions, notably pain and suffering, have been a controversial topic among scientists and animal welfare advocates. While understanding the symbolic meanings of some animal behavior is easier to decipher, some creatures are harder to decode.

Animal Emotion

Sentient animals are capable of emotions and feelings. This has been evident when they exhibit physiological gestures when in pain or in excitement. Barks, growls, and other vocal mediums are also some of the ways to know what animals feel.

Over the years scientists who are studying animal behavior and animal welfare have made progress when it comes to understanding animal emotions, as per Science News. Yet, the challenge lies first if a creature is sentient or not.

What is Sentience?

In a study published by The London School of Economics Political Science (LSE) in November 2021, sentience is defined as not the capacity to feel only pain, but also to subjectively experience feelings or sensations such as comfort, hunger excitement, joy, thirst, warmth, and other stimuli.

In relation to animal welfare, the LSE study proposed that certain invertebrates like crabs, lobsters, and octopuses should be considered sentient beings that are capable of experiencing pain and suffering. As a result, the authors proposed the expansion of the UK animal welfare laws to the said creatures.

In particular, the study highlights that since these sentient invertebrates are capable of feeling, one possible outcome is that the protection of the law should illegalize boiling lobsters alive before eating, recommending to use of methods that will kill the animals quickly but in a less painful manner.

Invertebrates and Vertebrates

The current basis for determining animal emotion is through observation of their physiology or behavior. For instance, vertebrate animals such as amphibians, birds, fishes, mammals, and reptiles are easier to decipher due to their evident anatomical structure, including the spinal cord and the nervous system.

On the other hand, with invertebrates like octopuses, jellyfish, and lobsters, determining if they feel pain or not has been a subject of long-held debates. First, this is due to the fact that there is no immediate, concrete indication that they feel pain at an initial glance.

Unlike vertebrates, lobsters reportedly do not have an autonomous nervous system that will instantly enable them to show a reflex or defense mechanism when subject to pain or any related stimulus.

However, animal rights activists and some scientists claim that this is not the case for lobsters and other invertebrates concerning the conventional knowledge of animal emotion and animal feelings.

Case Study: Lobsters

You might have gone already to a seafood restaurant where chefs and other cooks boil alive lobsters before serving it to their customers. Although excruciating as it looks, this has been a common culinary practice in most parts of the world.

Its cause mostly stems down to our perceived notion that these creatures are not sentients.

A rebut by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contrary to popular belief amongst seafood sellers, lobsters do feel pain and suffer immensely when being boiled alive, broiled, or cut. This notion is purportedly supported by most scientists, says the animal rights group.

PETA also cited a statement from Tom Abrams, a neurobiologist, claiming that lobsters have a "full array of senses." These senses, however, are not mostly understood yet, and this will be for a long time since the issue being discussed is 'purely subjective.'