Overlooked Minds: Reptiles and Amphibians in the Debate on Nonhuman Animal Awareness
Abstract
Research on animal consciousness has historically focused on mammals and birds, leaving reptiles and amphibians largely overlooked. These taxa, however, display evidence of cognitive flexibility, goal-directed behavior, associative learning, and affective capacities despite lacking a neocortex. Studying them offers insight into the minimal neural and cognitive requirements for conscious experience and challenges the assumption that consciousness depends on mammal-like brain structures. Recognizing the potential awareness of reptiles and amphibians also carries important ethical and conservation implications, given their widespread use in research, captivity, and ongoing population declines. Broadening the study of consciousness to include these groups can illuminate the evolutionary distribution of subjective experience and foster a more inclusive understanding of animal awareness.
Keywords: comparative cognition, consciousness, awareness, reptile, amphibian