Do we know if animals are sentient ? What are feelings of various animals?

[Saul]

This recent article in Science News is, IMO, very interesting

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/animal-emotion-behavior-welfare-feelings

[Ron Put]

Interesting. Although I've always been amazed at the prevalence, even among scientists, of the notion that somehow humans are dramatically different than other animals. It makes no evolutionary sense.

Evolutionary pressures would suggest that sentience is a continuum, with variations among species, but also among individuals within the same species, to a much lesser extent.

Anyway, it's one of the reasons I have decided not to eat animal flesh, and over the last few years, any animal products.

[Mike41]

I think the critical difference is our ability to manipulate the environment where it goes beyond the ecosystems realm or parameters for want of a better word. Wild animals fit into the ecosystem and things are generally stable. Humans otoh are making it a chaotic mess!