Invertebrates represent over 97% of all animal species but receive minimal welfare consideration. Emerging research on insect, crustacean, and cephalopod cognition challenges assumptions about which animals can suffer.
The assumption that invertebrates are incapable of suffering has shaped both research funding and regulatory frameworks in ways that may cause vast quantities of unrecognised harm. At the scale of insect agriculture, pest control, and scientific research, even a small probability of invertebrate sentience translates to enormous expected welfare stakes. The appropriate response to uncertainty is not to assume no suffering, but to invest in research that can reduce that uncertainty and apply precautionary welfare standards in the meantime.