Octopuses and crayfish can be in pain. The authorities of some countries want to protect them

Britain is the first country in the world tobegan to protect animals at the legislative level. In 1822, the authorities began to punish people for cruel treatment of cattle, and after a hundred years they took all other living beings under their protection. The country is constantly supplementing the law, each time paying attention to an increasing number of animals. Recently, the authorities took up octopuses and crabs - they were officially recognized as intelligent creatures that are capable of experiencing pain and suffering. Now they cannot be boiled alive, but must be frozen or stunned with an electric current. If someone notices the cooking of an octopus or crab animal, they can sue the restaurant and get justice. But how did scientists find out that some marine animals can feel pain? Let's figure it out.

Octopuses and many other animals can suffer from pain, so the British authorities have taken them under the protection

Interesting fact: In addition to Britain, Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand are involved in the protection of octopuses and crayfish.

What is pain scientifically?

Pain is a negative condition thatoccurs as a result of tissue damage or inflammation. This feeling can be experienced by all vertebrates, with the exception of some fish and primitive animals. Pain plays a large role in survival because it signals injury and illness. For example, the pain when touching a hot kettle makes us quickly withdraw our hand. If this feeling did not exist, we would receive serious burns, injuries and other injuries. In simple terms, pain occurs when the nerve cells that send information to the brain are affected.

Pain plays an important role in the survival of humans and animals

Octopuses, crabs and many other animalsthere is a nervous system and a brain. Based on this, it can be assumed that they, too, may experience pain and suffer. The question arises - how human is it that the cooks cook them alive in boiling water? Many people justify this by saying that animals do not experience pain in the way we are used to. For them, pain can be nociception - activity in the nerve fibers of the nervous system,which is not accompanied by stress and suffering. To experience full-fledged pain, the body must have a very developed brain with the departments that are responsible for these feelings.

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At the moment, scientists cannot be 100%confident that animals have such brain regions. But the fact that pain inflicted on living organisms can cause suffering can be signaled by two features in their behavior. If the animal is in pain, it may start:

• limp when walking, try to relieve pain by licking a wound, and so on;
• study situations that provoke discomfort and try to avoid them in the future.

See also: What pain is the most intense and excruciating?

Do animals suffer from pain?

These behaviors were seen intime of experiments with crustaceans. For example, once hermit crabs (Paguroidea) preferred to suffer from electric current inside their shell, rather than perish from predators outside. Also, scientists have repeatedly noticed how wounded shrimp try to care for the injured part of the body with the help of limbs and mouth. Crabs, poisoned, tried to avoid injury - is this, if not proof, that pain brings them suffering?

Experiments have shown that hermit crabs can indeed suffer pain

Do octopuses have intelligence and senses?

As for octopuses, they are generally consideredthe smartest animals in the world. In the course of numerous experiments, scientists have proven that these creatures are able to distinguish between the sizes of objects and the shapes of geometric shapes. Some octopuses that were kept in captivity could even recognize their owners by their faces. I talked in detail about the intellectual abilities of octopuses in this material. There is even a video showing an octopus named Rudy with surprising ease through the obstacle course.

Octopuses have a very developed intelligence, which has also been proven in the course of numerous experiments.

In 2020, scientists tested the susceptibilityoctopuses to pain. As part of their scientific work, researchers injected acetic acid into the bodies of one group of octopuses, and a painless saline solution into the bodies of another. Animals that received an injection with a pain-inducing substance began to avoid the container where bad happened to them. Instead, they entered other rooms inside the aquarium. And the octopuses, who received saline, easily walked through all the rooms. After that, the scientists injected the first group of octopuses with pain relievers and noticed that they began to behave more calmly. This means that they really experienced suffering and the injection with the anesthetic helped them.

Scientists sometimes have to torture animals to make important discoveries.

Thus, it turns out that the British authoritiesact correctly. According to the Daily Mail, they did not prohibit the use of octopuses, crabs and other aquatic animals for food. But before cooking, they need to provide a "worthy" death with a deafening electric shock or freezing - they cannot be cooked alive. In some restaurants, seafood is completely served alive and people chew it at a time when they are clearly suffering from destructive bites.

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What do you think of the measures taken in Britain? Have you ever eaten live seafood and have something to say about your feelings? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments.