Who else can recognise their own reflections?
@beyondcomparison (115)
Philippines
March 9, 2007 3:46pm CST
Aside from human beings, do you think there are other animals or creatures who can recognise their own reflections when they see themselves in the mirror?
One good friend of mine told me that there are monkeys, specifically the CHimps, who can recognise themselves especially if they see a mirror in front of them. It made me laugh because I can't believe it. So, they know how ugly they are? lol
2 responses
@Fargale (760)
• Brazil
11 Mar 07
There are other creatures who can do that, yes. I can't tell you an exact list, but I'm sure elephants are one of them - I heard about this piece of news last year, if I'm not mistaken.
And the way that the research was done was very interesting. They used a large mirror, and painted a red mark on the elephant's forehead. When the elephant say itself in the mirror, it tried to touch on its own forehead the red mark it had seen on the reflection.
(Of course, they also had a control group where the elephant was marked with invisible paint, therefore eliminating the possibility that the elephants were basing their behaviour on touch instead of sight).
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
9 Mar 07
Well, we wouldn't know, would we?
But for the case of the monkeys, might they not have thought that it was another monkey in the mirror? They might be just practising their "monkey see, monkey do"! :P
