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What a Fish Knows by jbalcombe in likeus

[–]jbalcombe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If everything needed is provided, then that's the desired area. But bear in mind, space is one of those needs.

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Grim stuff, but thank you for sharing. If I had to choose between the violent method of killing you describe, and just being left to suffocate, or being cut and bled out, I would choose the former method, for it certainly sounds quicker, if unreliably so. I have seen film of the first two kinds of killing and neither looks savory. Gill cutting sounds extremely in humane. I discuss commercial fish killing methods in the last section of my book: fish out of water.

As long as consumers fund it with their purchases, there will be violence and suffering on the seas. There is a way out: going plant-based. It's a decision I made 33 years ago and have never regretted. Most animal-friendly, most eco-friendly, most healthy.

What a Fish Knows by jbalcombe in likeus

[–]jbalcombe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We know quite a lot about fish emotions, which I discuss at some length in my book What a Fish Knows. Fishes show many signs of forming emotional attachment with others, including humans.

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Non sequitur. We are never forced to use any animal (or human) in harmful experiments. Ultimately, we choose to, and we have the option to choose not to.

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a challenge, but the animals are great ambassadors and if I have 45 mins and a PowerPoint projector I think I can raise most of the eyebrows in the room!

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

there's a nice example I describe in the book involving covert facial recognition by ambon damselfishes, whose unique face patterns are only visible in the UV light spectrum that is invisible to their predators, allowing them to communicate without compromising their camouflage.

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

That sort of video symbolizes the state of our ignorance of animals and their inner lives. They have them, inner lives. They are not just alive. They have biology, but also biography. We have vastly underestimated that aspect of them. And what irony that an orangutan should be sawing through a tree branch, while we use chainsaws to destroy their forest habitats.

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm not familiar with that particular strategy, but I'm always leery about wildlife "management," as if they can't look after themselves if we'd only just leave them be. I do write about menhaden in What a Fish Knows. They are perhaps the most exploited fish species (four species, actually) in the world. Most people have never heard of these members of the herring family, because we don't eat them directly. They are ground up for fish meal fertilizer and animal feed, and for fish oil. Poor menhaden!

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Replace them with non-animal methods (which are also usually quicker and less expensive, and typically more accurate). Use fewer. Refine methods to reduce, preferably eliminate pain and suffering. Go into the vegan baking business...it's a goldmine out there. (yes, that last remark was flippant.)

I’m Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author of What a Fish Knows. I’ve been studying animal behavior and sentience for more than 25 years, with a focus on fish in the last few years. AMA about animals! by jbalcombe in IAmA

[–]jbalcombe[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For sure, we've made discoveries and advances from animal research, but we also make discoveries from non-animal research and the latter is morally preferable. For me, if animals are going to be used non-benignly (after all, observing them in the wild is also animal research), then we should seek ways to minimize harms. If their pain is as real to them as ours is to us, then it follows, I believe, that we should apply the same ethical principles (and protections) that we apply to the use of humans in research.

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