« Cat Cloner Closed & Dog Duplicating Discontinued | Main | Misdirected Manatee Meets Memphis »

October 30, 2006

The Mirror Has Two Tusks

It appears that elephants have now joined the short list of animal species that are considered "self-aware". Until now, this behavior has been limited to chimps and, of course, most humans.

While it doesn't surprise me in the least that elephants have the kind of smarts needed to be classified as animals of a higher order of intelligence, I have to wonder how many other species out there are truly self-aware, but we humans have just not figured out how to properly test for it. Most mammals walk on four legs, so touching their faces while gazing at themselves in the mirror isn't likely behavior. I know our rabbits react to the mirror, but there's no way to tell what they're thinking.

...a 34-year-old female Asian elephant in the Bronx Zoo showed researchers that pachyderms can recognize themselves in a mirror — complex behavior observed in only a few other species.

The test results suggest elephants — or at least Happy — are self-aware.

...

In a 2005 experiment, Happy faced her reflection in an 8-by-8-foot mirror and repeatedly used her trunk to touch an "X" painted above her eye. The elephant could not have seen the mark except in her reflection. Furthermore, Happy ignored a similar mark, made on the opposite side of her head in paint of an identical smell and texture, that was invisible unless seen under black light.

...

Still, two other zoo elephants, Maxine and Patty, failed to touch either the visible or invisible "X" marks on their heads in two runs of the experiment. But all three adult female elephants at the zoo behaved while in front of the jumbo mirror in ways that suggested they recognized themselves,

...

Maxine, for instance, used the tip of her trunk to probe the inside of her mouth while facing the mirror. She also used her trunk to slowly pull one ear toward the mirror, as if she were using the reflection to investigate herself. The researchers reported not seeing that type of behavior at any other time.

More At: MSNBC: Mirror test suggests elephants are self-aware

Posted by sorsha at October 30, 2006 10:14 PM