The study of wild animal suffering and design of putative strategies to mitigate suffering in the wild can greatly benefit from the development of analytical and conceptual tools to measure the irregular distribution of suffering within species and natural populations.

To facilitate this analysis, we have proposed a new concept, that of life-fate. A life-fate is a unit that operationally aggregates individuals from the same species based on the similarities of critical life events and hazards befalling them. The concept focuses on categorizing major differences within the diversity of experiences that sentient individuals are exposed to during their existence. Such a framework forces a focus on the investigation of at-risk groups, or hotspots of individual suffering within a population. Additionally, the approach can provide insights into potential biological adaptations evolved in response to subsets of hazards individuals are exposed to, enable the description of the diversity and distribution of suffering within species in a systematic manner, and inform the public about a widespread, yet neglected, aspect of life in the wild (suffering) based on the notion of individual life experiences and stories – concepts easier to empathize with than mortality and morbidity figures. The approach is fully described in this essay, published by Animal Ethics.

Recently, we started testing this approach to describe the biology, ecology, and life history of wild species in collaboration with field biologists. One of our goals is to incentivize inquiry into the affective experiences of wild animals in studies of their behavior, ecology, and life history. This should also help map important knowledge gaps in our understanding of the hazards befalling organisms in the wild and identify groups of animals most vulnerable to intense suffering. We also aspire to raise awareness about suffering in the natural world by referencing the multitude of life experiences that wild animals live in materials available to the general public.