Do you ever wonder do animals recognize themselves in the mirror? I always wonder about that. I often carry my little dog & let her gaze at her own reflection on the mirror. But I notice, very fast she'll turn away. So does she or doesn't she? See what I found,
The Study: The Elephant Self-Recognition Study
Conducted By: New York’s Wildlife Conservation Society
Three Asian elephants named Happy, Maxine, and Patty were observed by
researchers after a large mirror was placed in the elephant’s yard.
Happy was marked with a white X painted above her eye and a similar mark
was made on the opposite side of her head in invisible paint of an
identical smell and texture. When Happy saw her image in the mirror she
repeatedly brought her trunk to her own head to touch the white mark.
This is the ultimate test of self-recognition. The Elephants also made
repetitive movements in front of the mirror and apparently used it to
inspect their body parts. Maxine even put her trunk tip into her mouth
and looked as though she was trying to study her mouth’s interior.
Interesting Fact: Elephants have now joined apes and
dolphins in being part of a small group of animals that are able to
recognize themselves in the mirror. Cute isn't it? Maybe time for me to device my own study on my pup!
No comments:
Post a Comment