Consciousness a ‘realistic possibility’ in birds, fish, squid and bees, scholars say

Biologists, cognitive scientists and philosophers across the globe say there is a reasonable possibility the vast majority of creatures on Earth are sentient in some way.The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness was released Friday with 39 signatories from universities from Canada to Australia who say there is “at least a realistic possibility” that all vertebrates and many invertebrates have consciousness.The declaration rests on recent studies that show garter snakes can recognize their own scent, crows can report what they see, octopi can avoid pain and fruit flies can sleep – and they sleep best when they’re with other fruit flies.