Pain experience in hermit crabs?
Pain may be inferred when the responses to a noxious stimulus are not reflexive but are traded off against other motivational requirements, the experience is remembered and the situation is avoided in the future. To investigate whether decapods feel pain we gave hermit crabs, Pagurus bernhardus, small electric shocks within their shells. Only crabs given […]
Gender differences, responsiveness and memory of a potentially painful event in hermit crabs
Nonreflexive responses to a noxious event and prolonged memory are key criteria of a pain experience. In a previous study, hermit crabs, Pagurus bernhardus, that received a small electric shock within their shell often temporarily evacuated the shell and some groomed their abdomen and/or moved away from their vital resource. Most, however, returned to the […]
How does temperature affect behaviour? Multilevel analysis of plasticity, personality and predictability in hermit crabs
When animals are observed on multiple occasions, consistent between-individual differences in behaviour, often referred to as animal personality, may be observed. However, this does not mean that the behaviour of a given individual is readily predictable. While some individuals show low levels of variation around their behavioural mean, others show high levels of variation, and […]
Asymmetric effects of contaminant exposure during asymmetric contests in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus
Contaminant exposure is known to alter behaviour in a wide range of contexts, including animal contests. We exposed hermit crabs to sublethal concentrations of copper, a common contaminant in coastal ecosystems. When hermit crabs engage in shell fights over empty gastropod shells they adopt two distinct roles. Attackers initiate the fight and perform bouts of […]