“There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their ability to feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery,” Darwin wrote.
But his suggestion that animals think and feel was seen as scientific heresy among many, if not most animal behaviour experts.
Attributing consciousness to animals based on their responses was seen as a cardinal sin. The argument went that projecting human traits, feelings, and behaviours onto animals had no scientific basis and there was no way of testing what goes on in animals’ minds.
But if new evidence emerges of animals’ abilities to feel and process what is going on around them, could that mean they are, in fact, conscious?
We now know that bees can count, recognise human faces and learn how to use tools.
Prof Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University of London has worked on many of the major studies of bee intelligence.
“Given all the evidence that is on the table, it is quite likely that bees are conscious,” he said.
…
Share this article
What has been discovered may not amount to conclusive proof of animal consciousness, but taken together, it is enough to suggest that there is “a realistic possibility” that animals are capable of consciousness, according to Prof Birch.
This applies not only to what are known as higher animals such as apes and dolphins who have reached a more advanced stage of development than other animals.
It also applies to simpler creatures, such as snakes, octopuses, crabs, bees and possibly even fruit flies.
