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IFLScience The Big Questions: Are Octopuses Sentient?

Evidence for or against sentience could have a significant impact on their rights.

Rachael Funnell headshot

Rachael Funnell

Rachael Funnell headshot

Rachael Funnell

Writer & Senior Digital Producer

Rachael is a writer and digital content producer at IFLScience with a Zoology degree from the University of Southampton, UK, and a nose for novelty animal stories.

Writer & Senior Digital Producer

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“Sentient” is loosely defined as an animal’s ability to have subjective experiences.

Image credit: Henner Damke/Shutterstock.com; modified by IFLScience

It’s no secret that octopuses are intelligent – but are they sentient? And how is that reflected in the way that they’re treated?

Host Rachael Funnell is joined by Sy Montgomery, author of Secrets of the Octopus, and Sophika Kostyniuk, Managing Director at the Aquatic Life Institute, to discuss the evidence for octopuses’ sentience, and how that could impact the rights they’re afforded in science, agriculture, and the wider world.

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You can listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast on all your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Podbean, Amazon Music, and more. A transcript of the conversation is available here.


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