Have you ever watched a crab scurrying sideways on the beach and wondered what it feels like? Maybe boredom, maybe fear, maybe just annoyance at your presence. Until a few months ago, this question would have seemed ridiculous in the eyes of science. Today, hundreds of researchers from around the world have put down on paper a truth that will change our relationship with the animal kingdom: even apparently simple creatures like insects, crustaceans and mollusks could have a form of animal consciousness.
A strong statement, born in New York, that is shaking the foundations of decades of scientific certainties.
A statement that makes the history of animal consciousness
La New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, presented on April 19 of last year at New York University, marks an epochal turning point in the scientific debate. Kristin Andrews of the University of York, Jeff Sebo of New York University and Jonathan Birch of the London School of Economics coordinated this document which Today it has 480 signatories among the most authoritative experts in the world.
The document is clear:
“There is strong scientific support for attributing conscious experience to other mammals and birds. Empirical evidence indicates at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates and invertebrates, including cephalopod mollusks, decapod crustaceans, and insects.”
Twelve years after the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness of 2012, which had already recognized sentience in mammals and birds, science has made a decisive leap forward. It now includes in the circle of animal consciousness creatures that until yesterday we considered little more than biological automatons.
Bumblebees playing and crabs feeling anxious
The evidence accumulated over the last ten years is astonishing: we have also followed it here, on our site. In 2022, at the Bee Sensory and Behavioural Ecology Lab at Queen Mary University of London, researchers have watched bumblebees play with wooden balls with no apparent connection to survival or reproduction. Pure fun.
The octopuses they avoid suffering and seek relief in lidocaine, demonstrating not only that they feel the pain but that they remember it. The cuttlefish remember specific details of past events, including place and time. A recent study from 2024 showed that the crabs marine animals balance their aversion to bright light with their aversion to electric shocks, making complex decisions. Other experiments have revealed that river shrimp develop anxiety-like states when subjected to stress, states that improve with anti-anxiety drugs used in humans.
How to Recognize Animal Consciousness Without Words
Jonathan Birch, Author of the book The Edge of Sentience, explains that animal consciousness manifests itself through three levels. The most basic is sentience: the ability to experience raw sensations such as pain, pleasure, excitement, or boredom. Above is wisdom, the ability to reflect on one's experiences. The highest level is self-awareness, the perception of oneself as a being with past and future.
Scientists focus primarily on sentience, studying behaviors that indicate subjective experience. The mirror test remains a staple: recognizing one's own reflection indicates self-awareness. Chimpanzees, elephants, dolphins, and even some magpies have passed it. Cleaner fish they seem to overcome a version of this test, as well as garter snakes with smell-based variants.
The ethical implications we cannot ignore
The statement is clear on one crucial point:
“When there is a realistic possibility of conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions concerning that animal.”
The practical consequences are enormous.
In the United States, Washington state has already Intensive octopus farming banned considering it “unethical and cruel”. In the United Kingdom, the Birch-led review in 2021 led to the inclusion of octopuses, crabs and lobsters in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.
But the implications go beyond legislation. As I was underlining in this article, recognizing animal consciousness in such diverse creatures means rethinking our relationship with the entire animal kingdom. It is not just a matter of avoiding physical suffering, but of considering the psychological well-being of beings who may have subjective experiences as rich as they are unexpected.
When Empathy Meets Science
The research published on Trends in Cognitive Sciences demonstrates that animal consciousness does not necessarily require complex brain structures. Andrews He hopes the statement will spur further research on often-overlooked animals: “Consciousness should also be studied in those nematode worms and fruit flies that are present in almost every university.”
Not everyone agrees. Some Neuroscientists remain skeptical, arguing that the observed behaviors could be explained without invoking phenomenal consciousness. But the weight of evidence is clearly shifting the scientific consensus.
Animal consciousness may not be the exception, but the rule. And if so, we will have to learn to live with the knowledge that we share this planet with billions of conscious beings, each with their own subjective experience of the world. A responsibility we can no longer ignore.
