The behavioural cue of ‘flexible self-protection’ is a way to establish whether an animal feels pain, scientists say

Crickets that received the hot probe “overwhelmingly” directed their attention to the affected antenna – they groomed it more frequently, and tended to it over a longer period of time, he says. “They weren’t just agitated and flustered. They were directing their attention to the actual antennae that was hit with this hot probe.”

Link to the paper

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[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's been several studies that say they might, but nothing entirely conclusive. Some say that the smell of freshly cut grass might be the grass screaming in pain and warning the rest.

[–] mech@feddit.org 43 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

It's not to warn the rest, it's even way cooler.
The smell attracts carnivores, and tells them "Hey there's some tasty herbivores over here" so they take care of the problem. The grass is snitching on the sheep.

Presumably that's why we like the smell of freshly mown grass, too (but such statements are impossible to prove in evolutionary biology).

[–] macmacfire@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 minutes ago

"The Grass is Snitching on the Sheep" sounds like the ramblings of a madman but here it's just awesome.

[–] xep@discuss.online 15 points 1 day ago

I see, that's why sometimes we have to touch grass, so we can high five it for being a bro.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

That's cool AF, thanks.