Don’t reach for the bug spray: scientists find insects may feel pain after crickets nurse sore antennae
> The behavioural cue of ‘flexible self-protection’ is a way to establish whether an animal feels pain, scientists say
>
> Crickets that received the hot probe “overwhelmingly” directed their attention to the affected antenna – they groomed it more frequently, and tended to it over a longer period of time, he says. “They weren’t just agitated and flustered. They were directing their attention to the actual antennae that was hit with this hot probe.”
[Link to the paper](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article-abstract/293/2070/20260609/481623/Flexible-self-protection-as-evidence-of-pain-like)
>
> Crickets that received the hot probe “overwhelmingly” directed their attention to the affected antenna – they groomed it more frequently, and tended to it over a longer period of time, he says. “They weren’t just agitated and flustered. They were directing their attention to the actual antennae that was hit with this hot probe.”
[Link to the paper](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article-abstract/293/2070/20260609/481623/Flexible-self-protection-as-evidence-of-pain-like)