Monday, July 23, 2018 | 2 a.m.
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A Twitter thread about lobsters’ longevity recently caught many people’s attention. Lobsters don’t live forever, as some have speculated, but they do age so gracefully that they show no signs of slowing down: no discernible decline in energy or strength, no changes in metabolism, no loss of appetite. If left alone, they can live to be more than 100 years old.
Lobsters use complicated signals to explore their surroundings and establish social relationships. They recognize individual lobsters, remember past acquaintances, carry their young for nine months, and have been known to travel great distances.
And, like us, they feel pain. In January, Switzerland banned the practice of boiling lobsters alive without stunning them first, and Italy, Norway, and New Zealand have also implemented increased protections for them.
Let’s leave lobsters out of the cooking pot and choose vegan meals instead.
The writer is a regular contributor to People for the Ethical Treatement of Animals’ Animal Times magazine.
