Emotions and the consciousness processes associated with them are much debated in animals. These are, however, crucial elements when one considers the growing interest of the public and the authorities in animal welfare, whether in research or for breeding. Research in these topics concerns vertebrates, very rarely invertebrates, and among them, only insects.

So far no study has addressed the sensitive issue of emotions in mollusc species. ETHiCS proposes to provide information on the emotions in two species of cephalopod molluscs: Sepia officinalis in France and S. pharaonis in Taiwan.

Cephalopods are very distant phyletically from humans and their brains are the most complex of invertebrates, ETHiCS is particularly innovative for better understanding emotion in animals. The comparison of emotions in these two species is interesting because, although very close, they by the environment in which they evolve and by their sensitivity to stress.

This project offers the opportunity to be able to consider both the role of Evolution (evolutionary plasticity) and individual history (phenotypic plasticity) in the expression of emotions. Cephalopods are considered mammals in animal welfare regulations in many countries around the world, despite the lack of knowledge in the scientific community about their ability to experience negative or positive emotions.