The exploration of consciousness in insects
Published in 2025
Scientific summary compiling evidence that supports the likelihood that insects possess some form of subjective experience.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Animal category: Insects
Review: Exploring correctness, usefulness, and feasibility of potential physiological operational welfare indicators for farmed insects to establish research priorities
Published in 2025
Study evaluating the correctness, usefulness and feasibility of physiological and somatic indicators currently used to assess welfare in vertebrates for the assessment of insect welfare, taking into account their particular biological characteristics. It proposes a priority list of indicators for validation in insect welfare research, allowing the welfare of farmed insects to be assessed in a reliable, useful and feasible way.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Farmed yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor; Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) welfare: species-specific recommendations for a global industry
Published in 2024
Review examining the factors influencing the welfare of yellow mealworms in farming, such as abiotic conditions, nutrition, intra/interspecific interactions and slaughter methods. Practical recommendations and research directions are suggested that would improve and anticipate welfare issues in this rapidly expanding sector.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords:Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Euthanasia, Welfare indicator, Living environment, Stress
Apis mellifera welfare: definition and future directions
Published in 2024
Synthesis describing the essential role played the Apis mellifera bee in pollination and biodiversity and as a biomarker for environmental quality. Although they are often overlooked in terms of welfare, honey bees could be included in the five-domain model, which would recognize their capacity for emotional and the importance of defining and promoting practices to improve their welfare.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords:Animal adaptation to the environment, Biodiversity, Consciousness, Pain, Education, Environment, Welfare indicators, Memory
Farmed cricket (Acheta domesticus, Gryllus assimilis, and Gryllodes sigillatus; Orthoptera) welfare considerations: recommendations for improving global practice
Published in 2024
Article on a study evaluating various factors affecting the welfare of the three main species of cricket bred for animal and human consumption. The article makes recommendations for improving the conditions under which they are farmed
Document Types: Scientific paper
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords:Animal adaptation to environment, Euthanasia, Euthanasia, Abuse, Living environment, Pain, Education, Stress, Transportation
Conscience et douleur chez les insectes
Published in 2024
Article on the status of current scientific knowledge concerning consciousness and pain in insects, summarizing the definitions of each, the evidence for their presence in insects and the knowledge gaps that prevent a definitive conclusion to be reached, also outlining the current scientific debate on the issue.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords: Consciousness, Pain
Noxious stimulation induces self-protective behaviour in bumblebees
Published in 2024
Scientific article on behavioral responses in bumblebees to noxious stimulation (application of heat), reporting that bumblebees directed their grooming more frequently towards a noxiously stimulated site, thus demonstrating that they feel pain.
Document Types: Scientific paper
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords:Pain
Behavioural Indicators of Pain and Suffering in Arthropods and Might Pain Bite Back?
Published in 2023
Scientific review of the evidence that insects feel pain. It studies behavioral indicators of pain, the evolution of major cognitive capacities, sensory systems and decision-making flexibility in insects.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Key words:Animal-based measurement, Pain, Welfare indicators, Stress
Do Insects Feel Joy and Pain?
Published in 2023
Article summarizing the current state of knowledge on cognition, emotions and pain perception in insects, and the ethical consequences of such knowledge for our relationship with insects, particularly in their breeding and use for scientific purposes.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords:Animal-based measurement, Pain, Experimentation, Memory, Human-animal relationships
Chapter Three - Can insects feel pain? A review of the neural and behavioural evidence
Published in 2023
Systematic literature review using 8 previously validated animal sentience criteria to assess whether 6 insect orders are capable of feeling pain. Adult Diptera and Blattodea meet 6 of the 8 criteria, constituting "strong evidence for pain", while the adults and some juveniles from the other orders tested meet 3-4 criteria, constituting "substantial evidence for pain".
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories:Insects
Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Brain integration, Pain, Welfare indicators, Stress
