Lobsters are sentient and they ‘ feel pain ’
Boiling lobsters alive could be banned if ministers act on a governmentcommissioned report that has found crustaceans have feelings . The study , conducted by experts from the London School of Economics ( LSE ) concluded there was “ strong scientific evidence decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs are sentient ”. The finding follows a row over the animal welfare ( sentience ) bill , which recognises all vertebrates – animals with spines – as sentient beings . The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation presented its own report to the government , arguing that crustaceans and molluscs also have feelings .
The bowhead ’ s tale
A 50-ton bowhead whale was found in Alaska with fragments of a 19th-century harpoon lodged in a shoulder bone , suggesting a lifespan of 120 years or more . The weapon was used more than a century ago by whalers from New Bedford , Massachusetts .
This allowed researchers to estimate the bowhead whale to be at least 115 years old , and supports their belief that bowhead whales are one of the longest-living mammals on earth , surviving beyond 120 years .
The spearhead fragments were identified as part of an exploding lance made in New Bedford in the late 1800s . Researchers believe the whale was shot sometime between 1885 and 1895 .
Don ’ t be such a scientist ! Shark Trust MD Paul Cox found himself battling a media storm when hacks seized on a new report on life in the Thames
Sharks in the Thames ? Surely not . As there wasn ’ t much for the newspapers to talk about in November , a few of the major UK newspapers eagerly grabbed the chance to talk about a report on life in the River Thames . Obviously , top billing went to the three shark species that were found to be ‘ back ’ in the river . Cue imaginative pictures of fins circling under Tower Bridge .
Called upon to give my view of this dramatic development , I found myself on the radio again playing the role of the scientist who spoils everyone ’ s fun by weighing in with boring old facts . The sharks are in the outer estuary , not the river . The sharks have probably always been there . Sharks commonly use the estuary for pupping . They ’ re mostly quite small . They might cause you harm . But only if you ’ re a small crab . And so on .
The role of the scientist as the ‘ fun police ’ is well established . In his book ‘ Don ’ t be such a Scientist ’, Randy Olden recounts the tale that John Steinbeck told of a giant sea creature washed ashore in Monterey , California , in the 1940s .
“ Word spread quickly around town . Folks rushed to the shore to examine the fearful monster but found a local scientist had already posted a note on it - “ Don ’ t worry about it . It ’ s a basking shark .’’ Nothing mysterious . Nothing to get excited about . Once again , science had drained the life and beauty out of nature .”
Spiny dogfish , photo by Lill Haugen
But science shouldn ’ t have to be boring , or life draining . Science is an endless voyage of discovery . Science is how we make sense of the world around us . And it offers us a view into a better future . But how we talk about and present science really matters . And that includes understanding what will grab the headlines .
The Thames report was actually a good news story , a celebration of the return to life of a once ‘ biologically dead ’ river . But it was also a cautionary tale . Just up the river in Westminster , politicians had only very recently bowed to huge public pressure to introduce tougher laws on water companies discharging into rivers and seas . It was a close one ( and potentially not yet a done deal ) that could have seen the positive trend being reversed . And there ’ s still work to be done to maintain improvements in the Thames . So that should really have been the story . But it was somehow hijacked and became about the sharks and whether or not they were venomous . How can improvements in biological oxygen concentration compete with speculation about “ poisonous sharks ”? It goes against the grain to say this , but just this once , I kind of wish they ’ d left the sharks out of it ! www . sharktrust . org
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