Monday, June 1, 2015
Reflections
This article was interesting to me because the animals reacted the way I thought they would. It is a bit funny. The monkeys were most curious and cautious, so they stayed in close proximity observing. Most of the other animals attacked their reflection. Do you think they would learn after a few tries that they are hitting a hard surface? Reflects badly! The wild animals spooked by seeing themselves in a mirror
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I'd say it depends on the animal. It seems that some are capable of learning to recognize the mirrored reflection as self and others not. Even juvenile humans don't figure it out - despite endless head-butting into it - until around two years of age. On a related note, my pet Meyer's parrot likes to attack his reflection viciously. He has done this for years and, despite repeatedly hitting glass, seems to be unable to comprehend that he's seeing his own reflection. I wouldn't be surprised if other species of parrot are able to recognize themselves, however - the Eurasian magpie, a corvid, does pass the test. It should also be considered that the mirror test is biased toward visual animals - what of creatures that primarily rely on smell, for example? It wouldn't be very telling of their ability in self-recognition.
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