I had to put this bee out of its misery today. It was writhing around and squirming in agony on my deck, it's abdomen was practically separated from itself. Even if I paid him a mercy, I still had to take his life.
if it makes you feel any better arthropods don't have an integrated conscious experience of pain and treat physical damage like a roomba treats running into a table legit's amazing what they can do but that's only possible in such a small body by making as many functions as decentralized and automatic as possible, and consciously suffering has no benefit unless there is a reason to consciously overcome pain and behave masochistically. logically, masochistic behavior despite outward signs of emotional distress is definitive proof an animal can suffer. arthropods just detect damage, log the location, and move away from it.it's really common for peoples pets in asia to develop a taste for eating spicy food despite crying and acting like they're in pain btw
I felt this way about shooting a rabid coon. It wandered into my yard looking like a zombie with gaping wounds all over, covered in flies, and barely able to stand. I think it was looking for something to kill it.I've never felt that kind of sympathy when hunting but I couldn't help but look it in the eyes and say a prayer for it before I put it down.
>>5055592>detect damage, log the location, and move away from it.Why can't more complex animals do that? It seems like a superior approach to what we do now where serious enough pain can cripple or at least hinder you. If you're running away from a predator and it gets a good hit in, being able to treat it more "logically" and ignore it seems like it would be an advantage over actually "hurting", no?
>>5055592>logically, masochistic behavior despite outward signs of emotional distress is definitive proof an animal can suffer.It only proves the animal can and wants to communicate its experience in a way you'll understand, advanced communication is something observed mostly in very social types of creatures such as dogs, monkeys, rats, many birds, mentally healthy humans, bees>>5055644clearly you have never run from a predator
>>5055644This is why adrenaline numbs pain
>>5055624I had this situation a few years ago, caught a skunk that was 90% covered with ticks.Couldn't have been in the live trap any longer than 6 hours, but it looked like every breath was a chore.22lr did the job, but the edge of my property smelled like death and skunk ass for about 3 weeks.Quadruple bagged that mess and threw away the clothes I was wearing, used a garden flamethrower on the ground to get any ticks that might have fallen off.Still felt bad about shooting it.
>>5055741Oh yeah that's true I guess, but adrenaline only kicks in if you notice a predator and pain can make it harder to keep an eye on your surroundings which makes it easier for a predator to sneak up on you.
