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It is 3 a.m., and I am awake in Australia, my body stubbornly refusing to adjust to the time zone difference. Suddenly, a lot of noise starts coming from the outside. I look out of one of the windows and spot the source: a young common brushtail possum. Unless you are Australian or have been to Australia before, I suspect you have never heard of or even seen this species. That is one of the reasons I used them in my book, A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness, as an illustration for why consciousness exists in the animal kingdom.

Picture a possum foraging for food somewhere out in the bush under the cover of night. Somewhere nearby, fledgling birds chirp from an unguarded nest. For the possum, this is an opportunity made audible: protein, calories, survival. But opportunities come with risks. While the possum investigates, it could itself become prey. A dingo might emerge from the shadows. A powerful owl might swoop down in silence. A single moment of distraction could end its life.

Now place yourself in the possum’s "shoes."

Do you hide, or do you try to find food in exposed areas? Where do you go to forage? How much time do you spend in one area? These decisions are far from simple. And they are not rare edge cases, either. Every moment, animals face difficult trade-offs. They are the daily texture of life. How do animals solve these problems?

The answer I developed in my book is that consciousness evolved........

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