Sep 23, 2024 04:50 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep 23, 2024 07:40 PM by C C.)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...ch-project
EXCERPTS: When scientists demonstrated a small tropical fish – the cleaner wrasse – could recognise itself in a mirror, Prof Culum Brown’s first thought was: “This is the coolest thing ever.”
Brown, an ecologist who researches fish behaviour and intelligence at Sydney’s Macquarie University, says the mirror self-recognition test – developed in the 1970s – is considered the gold standard for evidence of visual self-awareness in animals.
In the Osaka City University study, a small number of fish had a mark placed under their throats while under anaesthesia. When given a mirror, the fish oriented their bodies to see the mark, and tried to rub it off by scraping themselves on rocks.
Primates, elephants and dolphins previously passed the test. But the results in fish proved so controversial it took five years for the paper to be published. Even then, many scientists refused to accept the results. Brown says the response “shows beautifully” the bias against the idea of fish being intelligent – particularly when parts of the scientific community instead thought, “Shit! The mirror self-recognition test is broken.”
[...] He is among a group of scientists and philosophers to sign the New York declaration on animal consciousness earlier this year, which attempts to bridge the gap between science and society. Drawing on evidence, the declaration says there is “at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates (including reptiles, amphibians, and fishes)”.
[...] prolific research by Prof Lynne Sneddon at the University of Gothenburg has provided evidence that some bony fish, like the rainbow trout, experience body and behavioural responses consistent with pain. ... Sharks don’t seem to possess the nerve cells, called nociceptors, that enable the sensation of pain, but that’s no reason to treat them poorly, he says.
[...] While Ling accepts that some species feel pain, he is cautious about generalising. “Fish are an incredibly diverse group,” he says. There are thousands of species ranging from huge ocean sunfish to minuscule fish only a few millimetres long.
In biology, concepts like pain and sentience are not binary or straightforward, he says. “These things that we try to understand in other animals, like feelings and emotions and consciousness and pain are really complex things, because the only animal that we know experiences those things is ourselves.”
Psychologist Dr Michael Philipp, from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, says people’s attitudes towards animal welfare are influenced by their own perceptions of that animal’s capacity to think and feel... (MORE - missing details)
KURT COBAIN: "It's okay to eat fish 'cause they don't have any feelings"
Nirvana: "Something In The Way" ... https://youtu.be/1YhR5UfaAzM
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1YhR5UfaAzM
EXCERPTS: When scientists demonstrated a small tropical fish – the cleaner wrasse – could recognise itself in a mirror, Prof Culum Brown’s first thought was: “This is the coolest thing ever.”
Brown, an ecologist who researches fish behaviour and intelligence at Sydney’s Macquarie University, says the mirror self-recognition test – developed in the 1970s – is considered the gold standard for evidence of visual self-awareness in animals.
In the Osaka City University study, a small number of fish had a mark placed under their throats while under anaesthesia. When given a mirror, the fish oriented their bodies to see the mark, and tried to rub it off by scraping themselves on rocks.
Primates, elephants and dolphins previously passed the test. But the results in fish proved so controversial it took five years for the paper to be published. Even then, many scientists refused to accept the results. Brown says the response “shows beautifully” the bias against the idea of fish being intelligent – particularly when parts of the scientific community instead thought, “Shit! The mirror self-recognition test is broken.”
[...] He is among a group of scientists and philosophers to sign the New York declaration on animal consciousness earlier this year, which attempts to bridge the gap between science and society. Drawing on evidence, the declaration says there is “at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates (including reptiles, amphibians, and fishes)”.
[...] prolific research by Prof Lynne Sneddon at the University of Gothenburg has provided evidence that some bony fish, like the rainbow trout, experience body and behavioural responses consistent with pain. ... Sharks don’t seem to possess the nerve cells, called nociceptors, that enable the sensation of pain, but that’s no reason to treat them poorly, he says.
[...] While Ling accepts that some species feel pain, he is cautious about generalising. “Fish are an incredibly diverse group,” he says. There are thousands of species ranging from huge ocean sunfish to minuscule fish only a few millimetres long.
In biology, concepts like pain and sentience are not binary or straightforward, he says. “These things that we try to understand in other animals, like feelings and emotions and consciousness and pain are really complex things, because the only animal that we know experiences those things is ourselves.”
Psychologist Dr Michael Philipp, from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, says people’s attitudes towards animal welfare are influenced by their own perceptions of that animal’s capacity to think and feel... (MORE - missing details)
KURT COBAIN: "It's okay to eat fish 'cause they don't have any feelings"
Nirvana: "Something In The Way" ... https://youtu.be/1YhR5UfaAzM
