Science and Policy

Animal Sentience Research: Frontier Science

Cutting-edge research into animal sentience is revealing unexpected cognitive and emotional capacities across the animal kingdom.

Key Facts

Cleaner wrasse appear to pass the mirror self-recognition test
Jumping spiders show evidence of dreaming during REM-like sleep states
Bees demonstrate negative affect and pessimistic bias after adverse events
Octopuses show evidence of emotional states affecting unrelated decision-making

Welfare Considerations

Animal sentience research is advancing faster than welfare policy, revealing emotional and cognitive capacities in animals far removed from mammals and birds. Jumping spider REM sleep, bee pessimism, and octopus emotional states all indicate that sentience may be much more broadly distributed across the animal kingdom than previously assumed. This research continually expands the appropriate scope of welfare consideration.

What You Can Do

Follow developments in animal sentience research from reputable institutions
Engage with the welfare implications of sentience research findings
Support research programs investigating sentience in understudied taxa
Apply precautionary welfare approaches where sentience evidence is emerging but uncertain