List of Animals That Have Passed the Mirror Test | Hacker News Reader

List of Animals That Have Passed the Mirror Test

animalcognition.org

> if an animal isn’t able to pass, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they do not possess [self-awareness].

> For example, animals that rely on other senses more heavily than their vision may not take much interest in the sight of their reflections. Dogs, who recognize others mainly by their sense of smell, might quickly conclude that their mirror image is not of themselves or any other animal, because it lacks a corresponding scent.

So if I rub my dog against the mirror first and only then show it to her then there is a change that she recognizes herself in the mirror?

See

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/science/dogs-smell-recogn...

Cool, so would my method work then?

What are your criteria for "method working"?

E.g. your dog would recognize an object that smells like the part of her that you rubbed. Your dog would also notice that it is a static scent, with an age of 1-2 minutes, that continues to fade. Your dog would also recognize your scent (you held the mirror), the scent of the mirror and perhaps some other scents in the air.

Would you count this as "working" or not?

Right now my dog is completely numb to mirrors. I'm curious what would make her at least to show some attention. So perhaps there should be a scent dispenser behind the mirror?

Note that we are numb to fire hydrants. I guess we could smell them, but it would’t tell us much.

Meanwhile a sniff of a fire hydrant tells your dog how many other dogs have marked it, how long ago, where did they come from, how old were they, what were they eating, were they healthy, etc.

I don’t plan to sniff fire hydrants though; and for the same reason your dog won’t be interested in mirrors.

Unless they are actually using sight; e.g.: if you’re silent, scent is not a factor (very difficult to achieve), your position is unknown to the dog and someone has placed a mirror so that your dog sees your reflection in that mirror, and you wave - then your dog might spot you and go investigate.

My dog clearly is interested about visuals of other dogs but her mirror image doesn't impress her at all. The test you proposed would be interesting.

This youtube video seems to show a cat recognising its reflection:

https://youtu.be/kQBHB682xsQ?t=20

It's a ridiculous test; a meaningless hallucination like most of psychology.

And worse, it might justify animal abuse to some.

Ants?

I haven't (yet) read the paper that they cite about this, but apparently though the journal it was published in is perhaps questionable, the authors themselves are respectable, having published other things in respectable journals. Perhaps the findings were outlandish enough that they had to resort to this one to get them out there. I'm getting this from Peter Watts' post about it [1].

Edit: I couldn't access the link to the ants paper from the article under discussion. Here's an alternate link to the paper that works for me: Are ants (hymenoptera, formicidae) capable of self recognition? Marie-Claire Cammaerts and Roger Cammaerts [2]

[1] https://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=6822

[2] http://www.journalofscience.net/showpdf/MjY4a2FsYWkxNDc4NTIz...

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