Prolegomena: how did mollusks become “sensitive”? (Ludovic DICKEL)

Ludovic DICKEL is Professor of Ethology at the University of Caen Normandy.

The European Union Directive 2010/63 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes has created many upheavals in different disciplines of Biology. Among others, it has integrated for the first time the protection of invertebrate species, the cephalopod molluscs (octopuses, cuttlefish and squid). Based on the neurophysiology of behavior, the presentation will address the processes that probably led the legislator to take an interest in the welfare of these molluscs. This evolution of the regulatory provisions concerning the welfare of laboratory animals has however raised many questions in behavioral biology.

This international colloquium, supported by the MRSH, was organized under the auspices of the Normandy Chair for Peace, with the support of the Demolombe Institute, Caen la Mer and the University of Caen Normandy. The event was placed under the high patronage of Jean-Paul COSTA, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Honorary State Counselor and former President of the European Court of Human Rights.

This colloquium, the first of its kind in Normandy, had as its objectives to question the meaning and definition of the notion of animal sensitivity and to reflect on the implementation of innovative legal mechanisms intended for a better protection of the animal.