I. The Era Beyond Eisemann et al. (1984): Insect pain in the 21st century

Abstract

Can insects feel pain? In 1984, Eisemann et al. collected the best available evidence on insect neurobiology and behavior to offer a tentative answer: there appeared to be little evidence to support an adaptive role for pain perception in insects. In the intervening years, Eisemann et al. (1984) has had a significant influence on entomologists’ and the public’s understanding of insect pain, having been cited to support the lack of pain in insects in hundreds of journal and news articles, outreach efforts, pedagogical materials, and popular press books. As might be expected, however, the science related to insect pain has progressed substantially in the last four decades since its publication. Therefore, we revisit the claims made in Eisemann and demonstrate that many have been undermined by subsequent neurobiological and behavioural discoveries. Further, we briefly review the literature on new kinds of evidence not considered in Eisemann. Based on the evidence presented, we conclude that it is time to move beyond Eisemann as the definitive scientific authority on insect pain. Both academic and popular discussions of insect pain should begin engaging with more recent literature. We stress that the cumulative evidence presented herein is not intended to prove, and does not prove, that insects feel pain. However, it moves us significantly away from Eisemann’s conclusion that it is implausible, instead supporting the view that pain in insects deserves serious empirical and theoretical attention and warrants, as even Eisemann et al. supported in 1984, some application of the precautionary principle at this time.

New frontiers in animal welfare science: an introduction to (farmed) insects

“…They can even have the same brain size and number of neurons as some reptiles. 3 Although insects are commonly thought of as cognitively unsophisticated and behaviourally inflexible, insect species engage in rescue and wound-tending behaviours (including the application of antimicrobial secretions to injury sites), numerical cognition, individual facial recognition, problem solving, tool use, play-like behaviours and even monogamous biparental care that can last for up to 20 years. 4 Their lives can thus be behaviourally rich and cognitively complex.…”