Invertebrate

Changes in the anxiety-like and fearful behavior of shrimp following daily threatening experiences

Behavioral variation in animals is often influenced by experience. Previous studies have found that daily threatening experiences can enhance fear- and anxiety-like behaviors in some vertebrates. However, it is unclear whether the change in fear/anxiety behavior occurs in invertebrates. The...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Crustacean, Invertebrate

Citation: Takahashi, K. 2022. Changes in the anxiety-like and fearful behavior of shrimp following daily threatening experiences. Animal Cognition 25(2), 319–327.

Aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate welfare

Invertebrates are a diverse group of animals that make up the majority of the animal kingdom and encompass a wide array of species with varying adaptations and characteristics. Invertebrates are found in nearly all of the world's habitats, including aquatic,...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: Cephalopod, Insect & Spider, Invertebrate, Other Invertebrate

Citation: Lewbart, G. A., Zachariah, T. T. 2023. Aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate welfare. Animals 13(21), 3375.

Social makes smart: Rearing conditions affect learning and social behaviour in jumping spiders

There is a long-standing debate as to whether social or physical environmental aspects drive the evolution and development of cognitive abilities. Surprisingly few studies make use of developmental plasticity to compare the effects of these two domains during development on...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Insect & Spider, Invertebrate

Citation: Liedtke, J., Schneider, J. M. 2017. Social makes smart: Rearing conditions affect learning and social behaviour in jumping spiders. Animal Cognition 20(6), 1093–1106.

Evaluation of targeted injections of ivermectin or potassium chloride for euthanasia of anesthetized thorny devil stick insects (Eurycantha calcarata)

Insects are commonly utilized in biomedical research and have become increasingly popular in museum collections and as pets. Despite this, objective evaluation of insect euthanasia is scarce. This study investigated the effectiveness of targeted injections of ivermectin or potassium chloride...

Year Published: 2023Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: Insect & Spider, Invertebrate

Citation: Heniff, A. C., Gorges, M. A., Lewbart, G. A. et al. 2023. Evaluation of targeted injections of ivermectin or potassium chloride for euthanasia of anesthetized thorny devil stick insects (Eurycantha calcarata). Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 4(1), 231–239.

Assessing the welfare of captive group-housed cockroaches, Gromphadorhina oblongonota

The welfare of invertebrates under human care is of growing concern, particularly with the increasing interest in insect farming as an environmentally sustainable means of producing food. Additionally, individual welfare monitoring systems can be time-consuming and impractical for larger groups,...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Insect & Spider, Invertebrate

Citation: Free, D., Wolfensohn, S. 2023. Assessing the welfare of captive group-housed cockroaches, Gromphadorhina oblongonota. Animals 13(21), 3351.

Ethical considerations for echinoderms: New initiatives in welfare

This paper explores the ethical considerations surrounding research on echinoderms, a group of invertebrates that has recently garnered attention in the scientific community. The importance of responsible animal handling and the need for an ethical framework that encompasses echinoderms are...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: Invertebrate, Other Invertebrate

Citation: Crespi-Abril, A. C., Rubilar, T. 2023. Ethical considerations for echinoderms: New initiatives in welfare. Animals 13(21), 3377.

Mirror image stimulation could reverse social-isolation-induced aggressiveness in the high-level subsocial lactating spider

Conspecific aggressiveness often increases after social isolation for species that are not entirely solitary, and this increased aggression could also be reversed after resocialization. However, literature on this aggression plasticity refers to either permanently social or low-level subsocial species in...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Insect & Spider, Invertebrate

Citation: Dong, B., Liu, J.-X., Quan, R.-C. et al. 2022. Mirror image stimulation could reverse social-isolation-induced aggressiveness in the high-level subsocial lactating spider. Animal Cognition 25(5), 1345–1355.

Caution is required when considering sentience in animals: A response to the commentary by Briffa (2022) on “Hermit crabs, shells, and sentience” (Elwood 2022)

My recent review examined the complex and intimate relationship between hermit crabs and the empty gastropod shells upon which they depend for survival. Because shells come with costs as well as benefits, the crabs are highly selective about which ones...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Crustacean, Invertebrate

Citation: Elwood, R. W. 2022. Caution is required when considering sentience in animals: A response to the commentary by Briffa (2022) on “Hermit crabs, shells, and sentience” (Elwood 2022). Animal Cognition 25(6), 1371–1374.

Hermit crabs, shells, and sentience

Hermit crabs have an intimate relationship with gastropod shells and show numerous activities by which they locate, select, and change shells in different contexts. They gather information about new shells and update information about their existing shells. This involves integration...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Crustacean, Invertebrate

Citation: Elwood, R. W. 2022. Hermit crabs, shells, and sentience. Animal Cognition 25(5), 1241–1257.

Behavioural indicators of pain and suffering in arthropods and might pain bite back?

Pain in response to tissue damage functions to change behaviour so that further damage is minimised whereas healing and survival are promoted. This paper focuses on the behavioural criteria that match the function to ask if pain is likely in...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Crustacean, Insect & Spider, Invertebrate

Citation: Elwood, R. W. 2023. Behavioural indicators of pain and suffering in arthropods and might pain bite back? Animals 13(16), 2602.