Welcome to LSE IQ.
This month we're re-running an episode from 2021 which asks, what's it like to be an animal?
Since this episode was recorded, the UK Animal Welfare Act 2022 has become law.
This extends animal welfare protections to animals such as octopuses, lobsters and crabs,
a direct result of the findings of LSE academic Dr Jonathan Birch featured in this episode, that animals are sentient.
They have the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm.
This is my cat Otis.
I spend much of my days staring at him, wondering exactly what he's thinking and feeling.
Who are you Otis?
What do you want?
Welcome back to a new season of LSE IQ.
This is the podcast where we ask social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question.
I'm James Reti from the IQ team.
We work with academics to bring you their latest research and ideas.
Inspired by Otis, in this episode I'll be asking, what is it like to be an animal?
We'll travel to the local park to find out how smart dogs are.
We'll hear about a campaign arguing that chimpanzees should be classed as people with their own rights.
And finally, we'll ask whether insects and other invertebrates have feelings.
Associate Professor Jonathan Birch leads the Foundations of Animal Sentience Project, which is based at LSE.
While research into animal sentience is relatively new,