About Doug Yanega Expertise I`ve been studying entomology for some 20 years, and I`ve been answering questions about insects on the net for nearly a decade now, and am familiar with virtually all groups of insects, both in North America and elsewhere. My greatest expertise is with bees, but I also work with wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies, and moths. If I don`t know the answer to a question, I can generally direct folks to a book or person who *can*. But no spider questions please, I don`t do arachnids.
bayesian wrote at 2006-12-18 04:21:45
I recommend this article:
http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarjournal/33_1_2/V33_1_2Question.shtml
It presents a number of viewpoints on the question, some of which do maintain the possibility that insects feel pain similarly to the way in which humans and other advanced animals do.
I think I we should assign some subjective probability to the proposition that insects feel pain. I think, say, 0.1 or 0.001 would represent a conservative estimate of such a probability. If we assign a probability of 0.1, then causing harm to 10 insects would, on balance of expectation, be equivalent to harming a single organism that can feel pain.
steve wrote at 2007-07-28 02:40:33
Can you be sure that when you're holding the insects leg, it is not experiencing pain, as manifested by its struggle? When the leg snaps, a mechanism to blunt the pain is triggered, such as described in humans under hypnosis and other altered states of consciousness. If we have access to such a system, and its evolutionary advantages, why wouldn't the insect? Also, to have discovered the biological correlates, i.e. nociceptors, to the epiphenomenon of pain does not adequate explain how the system works once a signal gets to our brain. Just because we now know depressed people have less seretonin circulating about their body doesn't mean we have an understanding of major depression. Insects may lack receptors and traditional nervous systems, but still may be capable of feeling pain, as we do, only through an undiscovered process.
v7chris wrote at 2007-08-05 22:42:35
Yes, insects feel pain. Pain is the most effective response to any condition that is detrimental to the well-being of a given animal. Also, it is not necessary that an animal has a similar phisiology to humans in order for us to surmise that the animal experiences pain. We only have to determine that the animal in question demonstrates preferences; preference and pain go hand in hand.
Raskali wrote at 2007-12-21 00:54:11
I think the important aspect of this question is not was it feeling pain, but was it suffering. Being human we tend to view the world from our very particular perspective. Most living things react to stresses placed upon them. While insects may not have nociceptors they have a myriad of other systems to protect them from being wounded or eaten. Eyes, touch, hearing. If self preservation is key to living things then I think they can "feel" distress and even suffer, though it might not be how we describe human suffering.
Even for the person who writes they can't feel pain in their leg, they will have adapted methods to protect it from injury through sight and touch. Just because they don't feel pain in the leg doesn't mean they wouldn't feel extreme distress, and even suffer, if they saw some one "snapping it off".
So I'm not sure I can agree that after snapping an insect's leg off it "calmly" walks away. "Calmly" is a very subjective term. It may simply have a different way of responding. Certainly most insects I know when faced with someone trying to swat them try to escape as quickly as possible. Could this heightened state be viewed as stressful for them, I would think yes. Did it suffer? That really comes down to semantics.
John wrote at 2008-02-07 07:55:33
I was just reading this following a friend of mine who stepped on a large black beetle. He failed in killing it outright because it pulled itself around on the floor. After leaving I noticed that it was going around in circles and a large portion of it's internal organs/fluids were expelled by the intense pressure generated. I work in EMS and have seen some really bad things, and I realize to most people this is just a bug! The reality is that I feel sure that pain was experienced in the situation. The insect was making intense effort to get away and was moving it's mouth parts rapidly. If an insect attempts to run across a hot driveway in the intense part of summer, it will give every indication that the surface is hot and react accordingly by running and darting about. As a young child, I would chase ants with a magnifying glass and have fun doing it. Now I am very proud to say that I don't kill animals (never have) and I let all insects go! Truly, who are we to think that insects are so basic in their creation that they are unable to feel sensations like pain. Even the most basic of nervous systems can transmit impulses which are interpreted by the brain regardless of it's size. I am not very intelligent in the science of bug anatomy, but I feel that I'm right on this one! Most importantly, is the fact that God placed everything here on this earth for us to see and enjoy. And it's really a shame that people place so little compassion on life that they can extinguish it in a breath or blink-of-an-eye! Everything regardless of size or significance in our life, has the right to live here and it's nobody's right to take life from it. Insects are very dynamic creatures and that for their size, are stronger, more resourceful, adaptable to their environment etc. They were here before us and most likely will be here when we're gone! Would you like it if a tractor trailer landed on top of you? I'm sure this is about what it's like for a person to step on a bug! Please have compassion and give them a break! Their beauty is to be admired not destroyed! God Bless You! Jeff
Lesley Hatfield wrote at 2008-08-01 20:05:14
I was looking for help when I came across your page, my cat spends all evening catching moths and I worry so that they are suffering. My husband says that they run on instinct rather than thought, and the fact that they try to escape from danger such as the magnifying glass mentioned, is that they know through evolution that heat will kill and so try to avoid it.
I like my husbands answer as it means I can let my cat out again this evening, but i must admit I'm not sure if I truly believe him. I look forward to reading some sort of proof that insects have not yet evolved enough to feel fear and pain.(or could it be they have gone past such things)
Lesley Hatfield.
saf wrote at 2008-08-10 01:19:32
this may sound crewel but it was a test in response to this question. i caught a wasp in a bowl and preceded to spray it with CS gas, the response by the wasp was violent wriggling and buzzing. this test may have proved that insects may indeed feel pain.
X wrote at 2008-11-07 03:32:30
Actually, I'd like to know how you know that insects do not have emotion. Was there a study done? Is there some chemical or cell that we know for a fact is the cause of emotion and was found absent in insects?
Because if you're saying that insects have no emotion simply because insects have simple nervous systems, then you aren't actually being very scientific. Unless there are multiple studies somewhere that definitively PROVE that insects do not have emotions, then the BEST we can say is that we do not know. An insect not reacting as you do is not evidence.
Alan Rodriguez wrote at 2009-08-03 03:24:12
I beg to differ on one part of your response. If insects were to have nociceptors, then they would supposedly won't struggle if grabbed by the leg gently, and frantically run around if the leg were to be teared off. I believe it would be the opposite. If the leg were to be grabbed, it makes perfect sense to struggle the most, for it would want to get away from possible danger ASAP. If a human were to be grabbed by a sketchy-looking guy then obviously the person would struggle.
