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I have always wondered about such mirror experiments. If an animal became aware of the spot on the forehead, has this aninimal known previously the spot was not there before? How an animal who does not use a mirror on a regular basis would be become aware of the spot? What if the spot was there from the birth? Would it mean they have been using some sort of natural mirrors like water reflection to look at themselves?

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It's about recognizing differences in appearance based on association with others of the same species. If I've never looked in a mirror but I know what my mothers face looks like, I don't need to have ever seen my own face to know that I probably have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

They do this experiment with human babies: At a certain stage, if you put something on their head they will recognize that it doesn't belong there, because they recognize that something is "different" about the human appearance in the mirror.

I think that while those tests do a good job of proving a certain amount of self-awareness, I don't think that a non-reaction by the animal disproves it.

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