Silkworms

Types of Use

Farmed for silk, which is made from the dried cocoons of silkworms.

Species Impacted

Bombyx mori and others.

Total Animals Impacted

400B to 1T die during harvesting or due to disease. Even more are used for breeding.

Key Welfare Considerations

• Significant numbers of silkworms die from diseases on farms, and many diseases take days to kill.

• Silkworms are typically killed by being boiled in their cocoons, though other methods, such as baking, are sometimes used.

• Some moths seem capable of remembering experiences from prior to metamorphosis, suggesting that some neural connections may be kept intact through the metamorphosis, meaning it is possible silkworms are capable of feeling pain when they are killed.

Organizations

Material Innovation Initiative

Further Reading and Resources

• Abraham Rowe: Silk production: global scale and animal welfare issues

• Douglas Blackiston et al.: Retention of Memory through Metamorphosis: Can a Moth Remember What It Learned As a Caterpillar?