How Sentient Are Animals, Really?

And feathery and scaly robots? Or are they sentient? This video looks at what scientists have to say about animal consciousness and examines some of the smartest and allegedly 'dumbest' animals.
Links and Sources:

Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness:

Review of 2,500 Papers and Animal Sentience:

Scientific American Article on Chicken Intelligence:

Study on Chicken Empathy:

Carolynn Smith Paper on Chicken Sentience:

Newborn Chick Geometric Abilities Study:

Free From Harm Chicken Resource:

Magpie Intelligence Independent Article:

Animals Feeling National Geographic:

[TheSwordbirdsPage]

it's kinda sad that this even needs to be explained

[Anonymouslives]

I think calling other beings 'animals' and calling ourselves 'people or humans' is a way to mentally seperate ourselves from other animals, when we ourselve are animals too. when we look at a paradigm where we exist as animals as well, the seperation is more difficult

[noxiousdan]

It's common sense to know that animals feel pain just as much or even more than we do. It's funny how people need scientific reason to understand something as simple as that. I love your videos. Can't wait to watch more.

[theveganwifecanada]

Growing up every time my Aunt would go on vacation we would babysit her African Grey it would express to us "I miss my mum. Where is my mum?" It's truly amazing how much they are capable of..

[luannedimaggio]

My granddaughter loves chickens and I think that you'll find his information interesting because nobody seems to understand her relationship with her chickens and thank you for giving me this information so that I can pass it on to her she is only 13

[clairerose]

YES! "The parrot can speak some English! We can't even speak Parrot... just saying." LOVE THIS PART!!! *YES YES*

[thatvegancouple]

Great video ... really enjoying your work!

[lisve]

You're a great spokesperson for the animals and veganism :)

[julianmiller]

Mic,
Amazing video on animals being sentients especially chickens.
I have 4 in my backyard owned by my landlord for eggs. No eggs for me.
Every day, I open their doors and it is amazing to see their excitement
as they are running and flying following me for any kinds of goodies
I give them. They are like kids. We have interaction and they trust me more and more.
It is so nice to explore their individual personalities.

[MikoVanara]

wow, that guy who dissected animals alive must have been some sort of sociopath. If the animal is thrashing around and trying to get away while you are cutting into them, moaning or whimpering, wouldn't you think they were in pain???.. sheesh!

[TheRoarWithin]

Your approach is excellent.
You don't need to shove the awful videos down people's throats in order to make your points valid.

Keep it up man!

The animals love you for this.
P.S... How long have you been Vegan?

[-_soy_-]

I think Descartes seriously had to be a psychopath

[Claudia-skls]

*"I use to refer to them (chickens) as vegetables with legs"*
Wow Mic. It's so hard imagining you as a level 5 meatard! ;)

[johnsmith-zffd]

Mike is straight up one of the best dudes on the internet.

[Lavtea]

So, I know this is an old video, but I wanted to share about some chickens I raised as a child. I'd been given 4 chicks by my neighbor to raise as a school project. I ended up with 3 hens and a rooster. 2 of the hens I showed a few times and gave them back to my neighbor, but 1 hen and the rooster were bonded and I kept them as pets. I named them Todd and Vixey. Yes, I named my chickens after foxes, but I loved that movie and I was young, so i didn't understand what my parents found so amusing until years later... Anyway, they had free range of the yard around the house, which was a couple acres, and a chicken coop to hide in and get out of the weather. They bonded very closely. You never saw one without the other. They didn't go to different parts of the yard, they just preferred to share the same space. Well, Todd got sick and passed away, and Vixey was devastated. She started attacking anyone who got too close, and wouldn't socialise or bond with anything or anyone. Todd's favorite hobby had been to crow right underneath my sister's window at 5:40am on the dot every. single. day. A couple weeks after he passed, a very strange sound woke my sister and me up, and my dad went to investigate. My hen had started crowing. I don't know if you've ever heard a hen crow, but it's not pretty.. She would crow underneath my sister's window at 5:40am every day until she passed away. That's how I learned that chickens grieved. And to grieve something means you must be able to form an attatchment, which means you must be able to feel emotions and be able to understand loss. So that was my first experience of the sentience of an animal that was neither dog nor cat, but an animal considered livestock.

[rgj]

glad to see you were able to re-upload

[suzanadimic]

Another video, I love your work! Thank you for everything you do!

[FortniteOG]

Calling a animal non-sentient is like calling someone a watermelon

[DaleAmigaman]

Very interesting. I find it difficult to believe that anyone wouldn't believe that animals are sentient beings. Great video as always.

[weemarky]

That was awesome...BUT WHY..Why are humans not willing to accept the full sentience of other animals?