Do insects feel pain?

Kenelm W Philip fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu
Tue May 24 01:46:46 EDT 2005


Doug Yanega appears to have answered this question--but it might
be worth adding the following quote from Snodgrass (Principles of
Insect Morphology, 1935): "Insects are not known to have any
specific organs for the perception of temperature, though they are
highly responsive to temperature changes, nor are they known to
have pain receptors or proprioceptors other than the terminal
endings of sensory nerve fibers on the skin, muscles, and other
tissues." (p. 512).

As regards insects' ability to 'show very little outward sign of
distress' after serious injury, consider the male praying mantis
who continues to copulate after the female removes his head.
This has nothing to do with pain, of course--since one can't feel
pain without one's head--but it does indicate that insects work in
very different ways than vertebrates...

Like Doug, I have had a situation in which my ability to feel pain
in a localized area was destroyed (for some time). This was the
consequence of removing a wisdom tooth--a nerve was scraped
resulting in my total inability to feel pain in part of my lower lip.
I could feel pressure, but not pain. (I referred to this as 'iatrogenic
leprosy'). Fortunately, this condition did not last more than a
few months, since I was continually biting my lip by accident.
A vague feeling of pressure was not enough to prompt me to
instantly stop a bite.

		Ken Philip



 
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