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Potential sentience4/27/2023 ![]() ![]() 3 However, we do not consider the number of individuals to be the only relevant metric. In this article, we use the number of individuals as a proxy for the scale of animal suffering. This means that we don’t necessarily believe that resources in the animal advocacy movement should be distributed according to how numerous each group is. Other important factors include the degree to which different species are sentient and the amount of suffering they endure in their lives. Considering the number of animals within different groups can be helpful for prioritizing where resources should be directed, but it is not the only relevant factor for prioritization. We also considered how resources are distributed. ![]() When prioritizing causes, we considered arguments for prioritizing farmed versus wild fishes, as well as the distribution of farmed vertebrates (especially fishes and broiler chickens) throughout the world. This area of work is very neglected, and while it may be less tractable, we believe it is a promising avenue for further research. There are many more animals in the wild (estimated to be as many as 10 22, or 10 sextillion, of whom at least 10 trillion are vertebrates 2) that likely experience varying degrees of suffering. These groups include termites (692 billion), wild-caught fishes (1.56 trillion), and invertebrates killed by pesticides (one quadrillion). We also compared some groups of wild vertebrates and invertebrates that are killed by humans each year and found that their estimated numbers are even higher. These groups include honey bee workers (26.4 trillion 1), cochineals (9.93 trillion), and silkworms (636 billion), among others. Several groups of farmed invertebrates exceed the total number of farmed vertebrates. We compared farmed invertebrates and found that their numbers greatly exceed those of farmed fishes and chickens, indicating that they should also be prioritized. 1: Vertebrate animals killed for food by humans each year Among these individuals, farmed fishes and chickens are the most numerous (101 billion and 79 billion killed per year, respectively), making these promising groups to prioritize.įig. We compared the numbers of vertebrates raised by humans and found that animals killed for food represent the largest group, with 191 billion individuals killed per year. However, the number of individuals in a group or species is one characteristic of scale that we use for prioritization. We do not believe that the number of individuals is the only relevant characteristic of scale, nor do we believe that animal groups or species should be prioritized solely based on scale. Here we discuss one important aspect of scale: the number of individuals in various animal groups and species. To prioritize what problems to focus on, we find it helpful to consider the scale of each problem. Animals suffer in various ways, and different problems call for different solutions.
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