Aquatic and Terrestrial Invertebrate Welfare
Invertebrates (animals without backbones) make up over 95% of the earth’s species yet compared with vertebrates (animals with backbones like fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) our understanding of and efforts relating to the topic of welfare is relatively minimal. We have selected seven of the most economically important and widely recognized invertebrate taxa to […]
Ethics and Invertebrates: The Problem Is Us
Simple Summary Why do we need a collection of papers about the welfare of invertebrates, and what do we need to learn from it? The most important reason is that they make up most of the animals on the planet, so animal welfare without invertebrates simply is not the welfare of animals. Being vertebrates and […]
Invertebrate welfare: an overlooked issue
While invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, their welfare is overlooked compared to the concern shown to vertebrates. This fact is highlighted by the near absence of regulations in animal research, with the exception of cephalopods in the European Union. This is often justified by assumptions that invertebrates do not experience pain and […]
The Welfare of Invertebrate Animals
This book is devoted to the welfare of invertebrates, which make up 99% of animal species on earth. Addressing animal welfare, we do not often think of invertebrates; in fact we seldom consider them to be deserving of welfare evaluation. And yet we should. Welfare is a broad concern for any animal that we house, […]
The effects of claw ligatures in American lobster (Homarus americanus) storage: a preliminary study of haemolymph parameters
American lobsters are crustaceans that are offered for sale live and are stored in controlled temperature recirculating aquaria. During marketing, they are subjected to stressors that can affect their welfare, such as air exposure, confinement, and handling. European legislation does not provide specific criteria or retention requirements, and so their management depends largely on the […]
Ethics and Care: For Animals, Not Just Mammals
In the last few decades, we have made great strides in recognizing ethics and providing care for animals, but the focus has been mainly on mammals. This stems from a bias of attention not only in research but predominantly in non-scientists’ attention (to ‘popular’ animals), resulting partly from discussion about and depiction of animals in […]
Variability in sensory ecology: expanding the bridge between physiology and evolutionary biology
Sensory organs represent the interface between the central nervous system of organisms and the environment in which they live. To date, we still lack a true integration of ecological and evolutionary perspectives in our understanding of many sensory systems. We argue that scientists working in sensory ecology should expand the bridge between sensory and evolutionary […]
Say hello to our little friends
A review of Invertebrate Zoology, edited by Donald T. Anderson. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999, 467 pp, $55.00 paperback.
Nutrient composition of selected whole invertebrates
Abstract 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2361(1998)17:23.3.CO;2-D Although nutrient requirements of insectivores have not been specifically determined, detailed chemical analysis of invertebrates used in zoo feeding programs is essential for evaluating nutritional adequacy based on domestic animal models. Additionally, such data can provide valuable suggestions for future research priorities. Proximate composition, fat-soluble vitamins, and minerals in mealworms (Tenebrio molitor and […]
A behavioral analysis of force-controlled operant tasks in American lobster
Operant conditioning is a common tool for studying cognitive aspects of brain functions. As the first step toward understanding those functions in simple invertebrate microbrains, we tested whether operant conditioning could be applied to train American lobster Homarus americanus that has been extensively adopted as an animal model for neurophysiological analyses of nervous system functions […]