Dehradun: Atripto a jungle near their village to hunt for wild fowl turned horribly wrong for seven youngsters — all aged between 18 and 23 years — when one of them was accidentally hit by a bullet and died. The accident shook three others in the group so much that they consumed poison and committed suicide. The youths, who hailed from Kundi village in Bhilangana block of Tehri district, had gone to…
A pair of imperial cormorants in courtship. Isla Ping (Image credit: G. Harris/Wildlife Conservation Society.)
Marc Bekoff, emeritus professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is one of the pioneering cognitive ethologists in the United States, a Guggenheim Fellow, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. This essay is adapted from one that appeared in Bekoff’s column Animal Emotions in Psychology Today. He contributed this article to LiveScience’sExpert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
In June, during a series of lectures I presented in Germany, a number of people asked questions of the sort, “Isn’t it about time we accept that animals are sentient and that we know what they want and need? Shouldn’t we stop bickering about whether they are conscious, feel pain and experience emotions?”
Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard those questions, and my answer is always a resounding, Yes. Scientists do have ample, detailed, empirical facts to declare that nonhuman animals are sentient beings, and with each study, there are fewer and fewer skeptics.
Many people, like those at the lectures in Germany, are incredibly frustrated that skeptics still deny what researchers know. Advocates for animal welfare want to know what society is going to do with the knowledge we have to help other animals live in a human-dominated world.RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU…CLOSEhttps://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.448.1_en.html#goog_1955747892Volume 0% PLAY SOUND
Declaring consciousness
As I was flying home, I thought of a previous essay I wrote called “Scientists Finally Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious Beings” in which I discussed the the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness that was publicly proclaimed on July 7, 2012, at that university. The scientists behind the declaration wrote, “Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”
I don’t offer any specific, geographic location for this declaration because, with very few exceptions, people worldwide — including researchers and non-researchers alike — accept that other animals are sentient beings.
But, the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare is instead based on what I believe is the indisputable fact that animals are sentient and that they can suffer and feel pain, as recognized by the Treaty of Lisbon and the rapidly growing field of compassionate conservation. Evidence of animal sentience is everywhere — the remaining questions are a matter of why sentience evolved, not if it evolved.
If you’re a topical expert — researcher, business leader, author or innovator — and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here.
An essay written by Helen Proctor and her colleagues at WSPA provides a systematic review of the scientific literature on sentience. The effort used a list of 174 keywords and the team reviewed more than 2,500 articles on animal sentience. They concluded: “Evidence of animal sentience is everywhere.”
Of particular interest is that Proctor and her colleagues also discovered “a greater tendency for studies to assume the existence of negative states and emotions in animals, such as pain and suffering, than positive ones like joy and pleasure.” This is consistent with the historical trend of people who readily denied emotions such as joy, pleasure and happiness to animals accepting that animals could be mad or angry (see also Helen Proctor’s “Animal Sentience: Where Are We and Where Are We Heading?“). There is also an upward trend in the number of articles published on animal sentience (identified using sentience-related keywords) from 1990 to 2011.
Solid evolutionary theory — namely, Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolutionary continuity in which he recognized that the differences among species in anatomical, physiological and psychological traits are differences in degree rather than kind — also supports the wide-ranging acceptance of animal sentience. There are shades of gray, not black and white differences, so if people have a trait, “they” (other animals) have it too. This is called evolutionary continuity and shows that it is bad biology to rob animals of the traits they clearly possess. One telling example: humans share with other mammals and vertebrates the same areas of the brain that are important for consciousness and processing emotions.
Humans are not uniquely sentient
People surely are not exceptional or alone in the arena of sentience. We need to abandon the anthropocentric view that only big-brained animals such as ourselves, nonhuman great apes, elephants and cetaceans (dolphins and whales) have sufficient mental capacities for complex forms of sentience and consciousness.
So, the interesting and challenging question is why has sentience evolved in diverse species, not if it has evolved. It‘s time to stop pretending that people don‘t know if other animals are sentient: We do indeed know what other animals want and need, and we must accept that fact.Advertisement
Nonhuman-animal minds aren’t as private as some people claim them to be. Surely, we might miss out on some of the nitty-gritty details, but it is safe to say that other animals want to live in peace and safety and absent from fear, pain and suffering, just as we do.
(Nonhuman animals even worry — despite the erroneous claim that they don’t, ample evidence shows they do worry about their well-being (“Do Animals Worry and Lose Sleep When They’re Troubled?“) and that excessive worrying and a lack of rest and sleep can be costly.)
While some people still claim that we do not know that other animals are sentient beings, countless animals continue to suffer in the most egregious ways as they are used and abused for research, education, food, clothing and entertainment. And indeed, animal sentience is assumed in many comparative studies and recent legislation — such as policies protecting chimpanzees from invasive research, based on what is known about these amazing sentient beings. [America’s Fleeting Chance to Correct Chimps’ Endangered Status]
Society really doesn’t need any additional invasive research to move on and strongly declare that other animals are sentient, though studies continue. For example, Farm Sanctuary has put out a call for proposals for observational research on the cognitive and emotional lives of farm animals. Some researchers are indeed looking into using brain imaging to access the minds of other animals (see for example Emory University’s Gregory Berns’s work with dogs; Dr. Berns told me that he now has 11 dogs who are “MRI-certified”).
Moving forward as a society
The time is now to shelve outdated and unsupported ideas about animal sentience and to factor sentience into all of the innumerable ways in which we encounter other animals. When the Cambridge Declaration was made public, there was a lot of pomp, champagne and media coverage. There is no need to have this fanfare for a Universal Declaration on Animal Sentience. It can be a deep, personal, and inspirational journey that comes from each of our hearts — and such a realization has a strong, and rapidly growing, evidence-based foundation.
The animals will be grateful and warmly thank us for paying attention to the science of animal sentience. When we listen to our hearts, we are recognizing how much we know about what other animals are feeling and that we owe it to them to protect them however we can. Please, let’s do it now. It is easy to do and we can do no less.
Reconstructions based on intuition can distort views of what extinct species looked like
New standards for reconstructing extinct hominids could lead to more accurate representations, such as this sculpture of a 2.8-million-year-old Australopithecus africanus youngster known as the Taung child.G. VINAS, R.M. CAMPBELL, M. HENNEBERG AND R. DIOGO
Depictions of extinct human ancestors and cousins are often more art than science.
Take, for example, two reconstructions of the Taung child, a 2.8-million-year-old Australopithecus africanus skull discovered in South Africa in 1924. One version, made using a sculptor’s intuition, appears more apelike. A second version, made while working alongside a scientist, appears more humanlike.
Now, the researchers that produced the dueling images are attempting to remove some of this subjectivity by introducing standards that may give more accurate and reproducible portraits of species known only from fossilized bone. The team points out some of the flaws in facial reconstructions of ancient hominids — and the social and ethical implications misleading portraits may have — in a report published February 26 in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
These two reconstructions of the Taung child depend on subjective decisions to make it appear more apelike (left) or humanlike (right).G. VINAS, R.M. CAMPBELL, M. HENNEBERG AND R. DIOGO
Getting the depictions right matters, says Rui Diogo, a biological anthropologist at Howard University in Washington, D.C. When museumgoers see artists’ renditions of Neandertals or extinct hominids, visitors often don’t realize how much bias creeps into the work. “They think it is reality,” he says. And that can skew people’s views and reinforce existing prejudices of present-day people.
For instance, reconstructions of multiple extinct hominids in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., portray skin getting lighter and lighter in color as species became more and more bipedal. “But there is zero evidence to say the skin was whiter,” Diogo says. Such a depiction might give the mistaken impression that people with lighter skin are more evolved.
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Artists’ depictions can also give erroneous views of human evolution and extinct species’ intelligence and behavior, says Diogo’s coauthor Ryan Campbell, an anatomical scientist and physical anthropologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia. For instance, Neandertals are often portrayed as having matted, dirty hair. “It’s as if there is a bias toward portraying our ancestors as if they were stupid and didn’t have hygiene,” he says.
But animals of all kinds groom themselves, and there is no reason to think that Neandertals or other extinct hominids were any different. In fact, presenting reconstructions without hair might be more accurate, says Campbell. Hair is usually not preserved in fossils and DNA data from bones may hint at hair color, but don’t reveal grooming habits.
Accurate artistic depictions of extinct hominids begin with precise scans of skeletal findings, such as this digital scan of a cast made from the original Taung child skull fossil.G. VINAS, R.M. CAMPBELL, M. HENNEBERG AND R. DIOGO
“Reconstructing hair is not even informed speculation,” Campbell says. “It’s imaginary speculation.”
Scientists and artists often work together to produce reconstructions, but the choices they make may be driven more by whim than science, the researchers contend. By studying muscles in the great apes and other nonhuman primates, Diogo and colleagues have constructed reference databases that scientists might use in reconstructing faces from fossils. Even then, whether a sculptor chooses chimpanzee or human muscles as their starting point can produce very different outcomes.
“The reconstructions of the past, most of them did not have a scientific basis,” Diogo says. “Our goal is to change the methods and to change the biases” to give a more accurate view of human evolution.
(CNN)Russia is amassing unprecedented military might in the Arctic and testing its newest weapons in a region freshly ice-free due to the climate emergency, in a bid to secure its northern coast and open up a key shipping route from Asia to Europe.Weapons experts and Western officials have expressed particular concern about one Russian ‘super-weapon,’ the Poseidon 2M39 torpedo. Development of the torpedo is moving fast with Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting an update on a “key stage” of the tests in February from his defense minister Sergei Shoigu, with further tests planned this year, according to multiple reports in state media.
Images show build up of Russia’s military presence in the Arctic04:15Thisunmanned stealth torpedois powered by a nuclear reactor and intended by…
Russian PresidentVladimir Putinon Mondaysigned a law that will allow him to run for two more terms once his currentone ends in 2024.
As reportedby The Guardian, thelaw could potentially allow Putin, 68, to remain in office until 2036.He has been the de facto political leader of Russia since 2000.
The Guardian notesthat should Putin stay in power until 2036, he would be the longest running leader of Russia since the Russian Empire, surpassing the tenure of dictator Joseph Stalin, who remained in power over the Soviet Union for 29 years.
Putin would be 84 years old when he left office should he decide to run for the two additional terms he is now allowed.
Putin is currently on his fourth term as president of Russia, being…
UPDATED ON: APRIL 5, 2021 / 1:18 PM/ CBS NEWShttps://www.cbsnews.com/embed/video/?v=d65e9519d3b2bcdaf8e22fe3b932f73b#zVZtb9s2EP4rgj4OoUXqXQaGIWk3tFubZU2zD40KgxJPNhfqZaRkxyjy33eUFNtJB%2FRTuiEwQpHHu%2BNzz718cfnQt53ie3fZ6wHO3K0U0LrLL67soTbu8vaL2%2B87cJfuthXumSsFLoOKBkXIUwI0DkkYBQUpAoiICFhWUUjCIMxQtu7uP0D11t541V2qmzcq%2FfP6HW3%2B%2Fv19vKNp%2Fcent%2Ft3n65ksvsVpY0a1ihZtk0JujFkrdsd6Te8JxoUcAOkrciOmx52vAdNZEMq1WopOCnbQQmy4Vsg0Gylbpsamp4rPGgM%2FD0AqjRoope9sk95NdlwrAnjtFvQzmzDaSvnF8UXztHQYrHAqwLu8CIuqkGpZ3rMqMixvp7qOapwZINaR1%2Bd0VfH%2Buo88dV55mvJm7aRJVcfv4OxXtZgel537pLFLIl9xsKQUorvHjTvZdvgQRIdP9%2FxAhQ6Rf1lFKECNX03CA5ypOZrVIskMjb2m77vzDL3cq8sTAM7wxa4kGivl%2BWibOvc2wxF7snc07nnU5%2FlHg3xF%2BVeWAURFT6SLI04CWM%2FJgX4CaFlHANNWVQkfu71m6EuGi5V7sUhvQ9imnsijosyLpMQCl5BWQH4EPkiDQOaBKkfTt6QajD4HPJirCMH30icRoGfktnDxV%2FdGoHb%2FCtCwQsixPyU3ic%2BQuSzLCozEZeosSzihAHPAhHEARcB5cL%2FX0D0cOZ2GrYSdjdaPcHKdEqWsOC1Wi9km3u8Q3y26PVYw3LvWzUn92bFueceCt%2BJ%2Fk63YoFVbzxZzJGZojF%2FoCmMx0aZ50FhKQIfsjjLkgSBHp8Vr0bB2gKlF3UwpI9W%2Fe9utmp1zXs0yzsL4pjSuXdP6g7WNx%2FeocTwDOzdbvfUlxnkF2PFGBRp3tZdaz13lxVXBhsUtitZjg3KZk4Y0zCOkDJJlArCGPgkE8wnlLK0gpRTWtCT3lJYsklD6lY3shnzT4LmutxgA7y15449dx7PPyP5uEbnPlqrl7weC%2FHFtfPRSr3%2FWsvFfhK6%2FVrqMzIZOmlagecMfUKQbF11mXUQ1haD6WDokJjGHJ7MlTovERJzodry7lBlzY0BfT0UptSyAHEQNx3C2OpHuQ3cn7%2BGig%2FKBpye4Z877l4cd4PsLIzOItu0e83LO%2BsvQoyBNmWrYVwjSwNKI5rG2JzCCYfLmQ62X8W49YM1iR%2BNWZl%2BtbZoWcZMO7xbcfvey9w7P8iU1vy2ZP5hx%2FTPdD8gcPVwf6XbDnS%2F%2Fw0wVq4fJiB4FAcsEcj5LMyYHwQ8iN0HDFoNPR%2F7D76mh%2FXernFv04qJ89CIUe3Miwp4P2gQpLTtDeycMw89aB%2FRtJE5Tg%2B4xFKDi0MS3G%2B0zQSloJwy6XAt957rzr2fpFmpdr0GsZLNj9RWuFPQpfm54YWyAZ1GMq6xCyg4H9B%2FbaepWzdijEVJGBIf44FFPy1IKvyAJFxAERcR%2BCKy5H1y9ZGZSmL730BzIjDOaIzHWcVYQtKKRiT0g4wUgpUkDWiUVSVPAgru4crVULzG99hQYA0iNCQ0cPxgybKlnx3FHqeXOfcdAaXCjDKObW7j5AI16DWm%2FN7hBica5PS2ldrZyX7j1FIpBNRYuTWmwbzM7ZSI44psLKJnjuZCthyxxznnWHJy18FCdGdOnHkMatNjbFbz7jjdbbGVzMcCzB1WmbH8vIatfaFr68D6UcBSemXnY5u4%2BP%2BNtPXp1h2MhdTuXE9EQNnBzELzXXygTc%2FRUyjcuZ6N%2BFcJFZDaWdqHaqplHCdtQv2MsTRkaTIl6EkpGrUrWUvMmfDwzOt20CVM9c6Z86%2FQvBFXive29I%2Fm5mq%2Bss6tjm%2B2n7P2WcLaBK7kUFt6YnuqpDo5thdQBCs57tnmZQl9mF6fN%2B2v%2BsjU0B5bw8gK2zkOrDjtITac%2BN2XG6IQQZTWwGvSt4LvyYGG0dg6ahCSX7XoHQZiBh%2FvizmU%2F5lf1viM78sZGevSN5%2F4HVr4w8M%2F
Hundreds of residents in Manatee County, Florida, were ordered to evacuate their homes over Easter weekend as officials feared that a wastewater pond could collapse “at any time.” On Saturday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantisdeclareda state of emergency for the area.
County officials said the pond, located at the former Piney Point phosphate processing plant, had a “significant leak,” according to CBS affiliateWTSP-TV.The Manatee County Public Safety Departmenttoldpeople near the plant to evacuate due to an “imminent uncontrolled release of wastewater.”
“A portion of the containment wall at the leak site shifted laterally,” said Manatee Director of Public Safety Jake Saur, “signifying that structural collapse could occur at any time.”https://www.cbsnews.com/newsletters/widget/e879?v=d65e9519d3b2bcdaf8e22fe3b932f73b&view=compact#xVPLbtswEPwVgmczFvWIHrcUKdBeigBpT1VhUOTKJkKJAklZMIL8e5eK4gS5F72Js7OvmdUztVPQdvS0eaYgrQLaUKjKmu7oWcOCL2mHSciAwGS9jmQE77yHQL5YdaEvOxqckE96PMYi2n8dRWdA0Sa4GXZUuKClgbs5nKz7jvBvWnDOizLPWVokFctvq45VKs1YKRR0t10BqSron0%2BpP8QAMdloIu0Jxg%2BEWJVycVv3nJes6pOC5WlWs05xyaosKepeijJLgF5THubuXoS4bZqknCU5SzKSZg2vm7R%2Bp%2F3UwURSb6zTShAF0ggHnviA2cT2BAZwRxjlhQhPMALubLUjiw4nMmhjoriRdxTGbJ8tajoGMegRa6gdcUJpixLrM5BF%2BAAL4q6lxIB48h%2BGuUywGjIGGMNhQzGu4KzlW1iBfwp2Qlj7ezjHDaN34vhGGGHxBx1gQBgNhW8aXBR29lHSiDyC3Hye%2FUbacnHBCbdYJ4UOY9hJy1X%2FvkwUVFnHuhR6xjmkTGR9wpK05rzKeVUW9VvCq5ev1WeUbKsuRmy6Q4cHHWiTXxd%2FtLOT6%2BqdJ3F8JHVOjOrBiNBbN6wDYHBdLY57eFchPrd%2BGyNOAcLoeYgHOznba%2FMhHBOQAmPUDqMqnriMs2kpzC9nED6FMPmm3bf7ZVlutsQb%2FFXaffxq99vBsPVOmO3Z9U7Yu8UsGozvIE%2FMoKbIdiAGFqwSF3Y9zKLdbw7%2B1%2BabiP%2BqycvLXw%3D%3D
As of Monday afternoon, the leaks have not been fixed, according to officials. Thermal imaging from a drone on Sunday…
The documentary film, produced by the same team as 2014’s Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, reveals the hugely damaging impact of commercial fishing, here’s what you need to know.SHARE
For many, it was Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret – the 2014 film that pulled back the curtain on large-scale factory farming – that turned them off meat. Now, a new Netflix documentary from the same team, Seaspiracy, looks set to do the same for seafood.
Directed and narrated by British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi, the Netflix film takes us on a whistlestop tour of our oceans, shining a light on everything from how important sharks and dolphins are to our ecosystems, to the hugely damaging effects that commercial fishing has on our planet (considering that up to 85 per cent of the oxygen we breathe comes from our seas).
Here, six eye-opening lessons from Seaspiracy that may change the way you look at seafood forever.
Bycatch — fish and other marine species that are unintentionally caught when trying to catch another type of fish — is one major issue highlighted by the film (40 per cent of global fishing catch is unused, wasted or not accounted for). Often, bycatch is thrown back into the sea — and while this may sound positive, these fish are unlikely to survive due to lack of oxygen or trauma.
Shocking statistics shown in the film suggest that 50 million sharks (much-maligned creatures that are essential to the preservation of our oceans) are caught annually as bycatch, while up to 10,000 dolphins are caught off the Atlantic coast of France every year alone as bycatch, according to Sea Shepherd, a nonprofit marine conservation group.
Sustainable fish certifications may not be all they seem
While eating sustainably caught fish seems like the right thing to do, Tabrizi shines a light on how the Dolphin Safe and the Marine Stewardship Council labels might not be able to provide the assurance that customers are looking for.
Asked in the film whether he could guarantee that every can of fish labelled ‘dolphin safe’ is actually dolphin-safe, Mark J Palmer from the Earth Island Institute — the organisation that manages the dolphin-safe label — said: “Nope. Nobody can. Once you’re out there in the ocean, how do you know what they’re doing? We have observers on board — observers can be bribed.”
Responding to the documentary, David Phillips, director of the International Marine Mammal Project of the Earth Island Institute, said in a statement: “The dolphin-safe tuna programme is responsible for the largest decline in dolphin deaths by tuna fishing vessels in history. Dolphin-kill levels have been reduced by more than 95 per cent, preventing the indiscriminate slaughter of more than 100,000 dolphins every year.”
A spokesperson for the Marine Stewardship Council added: “MSC-certified fisheries must adhere to our verifiable and science-based requirements, ensuring that fish stocks are conserved for future generations. The positive impact of our programme has been recognised by the United Nations, as being important in helping to support ocean biodiversity.”
Fish that have been farmed are also often considered more eco-friendly than wild fishing, as they’re not being taken from the wild population. But what you might not know is that some species of farmed fish are fed wild-caught fish, leading one expert in the documentary to call fish farming “wild fishing in disguise”. Not only that but farmed salmon would actually be grey if it wasn’t fed a chemical in its food that gives it its famous pink colour.
Other problems shown in the documentary include lice infestations, with salmon pictured being eaten alive by sea lice parasites. In fact, millions of salmon are dying on salmon farms every year from diseases such as anaemia and heart disease.
Nets are a huge source of plastic pollution that’s rarely discussed
By now, we all know the damaging impact that single-use plastic has on our oceans. But did you know that only an estimated 0.03 per cent of plastic pollution waste comes from straws? Although rarely discussed, fishing nets and equipment actually make up a significant amount of the plastic pollution in our oceans, too — including 46 per cent of the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the north Pacific Ocean. It goes without saying that this is hugely damaging to sea life, which can easily get tangled up in the fishing nets.
‘Blood shrimp’ are being caught using slave labour
You might have heard of blood diamonds, but environmental journalist George Monbiot says that ‘blood shrimp’ are now a huge concern — with horrifying reports of slave labour being used in Thailand to catch shrimp and prawns in the ocean. One former fisherman interviewed in the documentary described how he was abused and threatened at gunpoint, alleging that the dead bodies of others who were killed were kept in freezers on board their ship.
Reducing our fish consumption is the only way forward
All of this — plus the jaw-dropping estimate that we’re now catching up to 2.7 trillion fish a year, the equivalent to 5 million fish every minute — means that we need to seriously consider our consumption of fish and other seafood (less than one per cent of our global oceans are protected from commercial fishing). Is it possible to continue consuming fish, both from an ethical and environmental perspective? Tabrizi certainly doesn’t think so.
Brian WhipkeyGannett PAView CommentsAD0:19https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.448.1_en.html#goog_1835916819
Pennsylvaniahunters harvested more deer in the 2020-21 seasons than any time in the past 15years, including the most bucks since antler restrictions were implemented in 2002.
TheGame Commissionreported Friday that hunters Pennsylvania took an estimated 435,180 deer in the 2020-21 hunting seasons, which closed in January.
The 2020-21 estimated deer harvest topped the previous license year’s harvest of 389,431 by about 12%.
Since 1993, Pennsylvania hunters have harvested more than 400,000 deer in a license year 10 times. Twice during that period, deer harvests exceeded 500,000, first in 2000 and then again in 2002, when the state’s record overall deer harvest of 517,529 was set.
The statewide buck kill for the past season –174,780 – was the highest total for a buck
harvest during since antler-restriction era began in 2002.
The buck harvest also increased 7% over the previous license year’s…
We interrupt this series of human interest stories to hand the microphone over to Jake, my dog, who has an adventure of his own to recount…
Back in the late 1970s, I was up at the Lake with Jim and his sister, Robin and her two Norwegian elkhounds, Torque and Sonia, who must have caught the scent of a deer in the back lots. I turned to Jim who, not knowing what kind of mischief they were getting themselves into, encouraged me to go and see what was up. That was all it took and I was off like shot to follow those errant elkhounds deeper into the forest and higher on the hill than my humans had ever taken me.
The deer we were trailing must have known Fraily Mountain like the back of his hoof, and he wasn’t about to let us catch up, leading us around cliffs…
