The behavioural cue of ‘flexible self-protection’ is a way to establish whether an animal feels pain, scientists say
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Do insects feel pain? Crickets certainly seem to, according to new research which finds they stroke and groom a sore antenna in much the same way as a dog nurses its hurt paw.
Associate Prof Thomas White, an entomologist from the University of Sydney, said the experience of pain was a “longer, drawn-out, ouchy feeling”, that differed from a hardwired nerve response.
But evidence for pain is difficult to establish in other species, he says, so scientists look for behavioural cues. One indicator is “flexible self-protection”, where an animal directs protection to a particular body part over an extended period of time.
