Whales 'can feel and suffer as humans do' - Polidicks

[release]Self-awareness, suffering and a social culture along with high mental abilities are a hallmark of cetaceans, an order grouping more than 80 whales, dolphins and porpoises, say marine biologists. If this is true, the notion that whales are intelligent and sentient beings threatens to demolish the assumption that they are simply an animal commodity to be harvested from the sea. That belief lies at the heart of talks unfolding at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting from Monday to Friday in Agadir, Morocco. A fiercely-contested proposal would authorise whale hunts by Japan, Norway and Iceland for 10 more years, ending a 24-year spell in which these nations - tarred as outlaws by a well-organised green campaign - have snubbed or sidelined the IWC's moratorium on whaling. "We now know from field studies that a lot of the large whales exhibit some of the most complex behaviour in the animal kingdom," said Lori Marino, a neurobiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. A decade ago, Ms Marino conducted an experiment with bottlenose dolphins in which she placed a small mark on their body and had the mammals look at themselves in a mirror. By the way the dolphins reacted to the image and then looked at the spot, it was clear that they had a sense of self-identity, she determined. For Georges Chapouthier, a neurobiologist and director of the Emotion Centre at Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, self-awareness means that dolphin and whales, along with some higher primates, can experience not just pain but also suffering. Unlike nociception - a basic nerve response to harmful stimuli found in all animals - or lower-order pain, "suffering supposes a certain level of cognitive functioning," he said. "It is difficult to define what that level is, but there's a lot of data now to suggest some higher mammals have it, including great apes, dolphins and, most likely, whales." As for intelligence, cetaceans are second only to humans in brain size, once body weight is taken into account. More telling than volume, though, are cerebral areas which specialise in cognition and emotional processing - and the likelihood that this evolution was partly driven by social interaction, according to several peer-reviewed studies. Some scientists suggest this interaction can best described as culture, a notion usually reserved for homo sapiens. "Evidence is growing that for at least some cetacean species, culture is both sophisticated and important," said Hal Whitehead, a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Scientists have observed orcas, or killer whales, learning from other orcas from a geographically separate group how to steal fish from so-called longlines used by commercial fishing boats. At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in February, scientists concluded that new data on cognition and culture among whales should be the guideline for international wildlife policy. To date that has not happened in any international forum, including the IWC, said Margi Prideaux, head of cetacean conservation at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. "Aside from a narrow focus on killing methods - what type of harpoon grenade, for example, is most humane - ethics or the status of whales as sentient beings do not figure in talks at the IWC," she said. [url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7841882/Whales-can-feel-and-suffer-as-humans-do.html[/url] [/release] [IMG]http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4590/whaling0621.jpg[/IMG] In 100 years will whaling be seen as genocide?

Maybe those hippies were right after all...

who cares if they suffer like we do. kill them anyway. i'd say every animal feels pain and suffering and if your willing to kill pigs chicken cows and sheep why should whales get off scott free.

Gracie's pregnant!

All animals feel pain and suffering

[QUOTE=Insignificant;22866862]who cares if they suffer like we do. kill them anyway[/QUOTE] hurr fuck off

[QUOTE=Insignificant;22866862]who cares if they suffer like we do. kill them anyway[/QUOTE] This is why we can't have nice things.

[QUOTE=plokoon9619;22866875]All animals feel pain and suffering[/QUOTE] This. It shouldn't be fucking news that Whales feel pain and have emotions. All sentient beings do.

[QUOTE=Insignificant;22866862]who cares if they suffer like we do. kill them anyway[/QUOTE] Do trolls feel like humans too? If not I'd be happy to slice you in half.

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22866900]This. It shouldn't be fucking news that Whales feel pain and have emotions. All sentient beings do.[/QUOTE] It's just that there's a huge debate happening within the IWC to lift the whaling moratorium that's banned whaling for 30 years. Japan wants to go back to full industrial whaling. Basically were pedaling backwards.

[QUOTE=Insignificant;22866862]who cares if they suffer like we do. kill them anyway[/QUOTE] Your username is correct.

Jesus fuck animals have [b]feelings?[/b] What an advance in science!

I thought we already knew this years ago...?

[QUOTE=OvB;22866957]It's just that there's a huge debate happening within the IWC to lift the whaling moratorium that's banned whaling for 30 years. Japan wants to go back to full industrial whaling. Basically were pedaling backwards.[/QUOTE] Why the hell would you make whaling legal? What could whaling possibly provide that we need so damn much?

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867178]Why the hell would you make whaling legal? What could whaling possibly provide that we need so damn much?[/QUOTE] Apparently whale blubber is delicious

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867178]Why the hell would you make whaling legal? What could whaling possibly provide that we need so damn much?[/QUOTE] Where else are we going to get delicious whale soup as seen in the OP's picture?

[QUOTE=Agent_Wesker;22867163]I thought we already knew this years ago...?[/QUOTE] apparently humans "feel and suffer" in a different way than the way most other animals "feel and suffer". the difference being that humans shout more profanity when suffering. I guess whales can bellow low-frequency "FUCK THAT HURTS!" when being "whaled".

Animal = food food = good

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;22867289]Animal = food food = good[/QUOTE] Humans = Animals Humans = Food Food = Good According to your logic, we should all just turn on each other and resort to cannibalism.

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867335]Humans = Animals Humans = Food Food = Good According to your logic, we should all just turn on each other and resort to cannibalism.[/QUOTE] We humans are superior.

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;22867354]We humans are superior.[/QUOTE] Why?

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867367]Why?[/QUOTE] Because we have domesticated the animals. WE CONTROL THE WORLD.

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867367]Why?[/QUOTE] We're the ones eating them.

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;22867354]We humans are superior.[/QUOTE] Superior Species = Superior Food I can imagine human flesh being too tough, and veiny though.

[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867367]Why?[/QUOTE] Because of our advanced intelligence, I don't see any other animals logging on to facepunch. But nonetheless it's shitty thing to kill whales.

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;22867407]We're the ones eating them.[/QUOTE] They eat us too. Animals eat people all the time.

[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;22867411]Superior Species = Superior Food I can imagine human flesh being too tough, and veiny though.[/QUOTE] Some say it tastes similar to pork. [editline]01:13AM[/editline] [QUOTE=Grim Joker;22867417]They eat us too. Animals eat people all the time.[/QUOTE] We eat more of them.

-snip because my "idea" was fucking retarded-

[QUOTE=theguydude;22867415]I don't see any other animals logging on to facepunch.[/QUOTE] i dunno, i see a lotta jackasses here

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;22867422]Some say it tastes similar to pork. [editline]01:13AM[/editline] We eat more of them.[/QUOTE] Well, a good source of Human meat would be china, but then you have heavy metal poisoning... Which made me realize something, Human meat would have too many variables.