I’m pretty sure most adult dogs and cats understand mirrors, they just get creeped out by their own reflection. Take an adult cat, hold it up to a mirror. Watch as it actively avoids looking at itself. My dog stares at me for long periods me through a full-length bedroom mirror and even barks and runs to the window when she dogs outside through it. Doesn’t really care much about her own reflection.
Comment on Mirror Test
MossyFeathers@pawb.social 9 months ago
I’ve always wondered how many animals can pass the self-recognition test, but either A) they don’t do it immediately so they don’t get counted as passing, or B) they just don’t give a fuck.
General_Shenanigans@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Maalus@lemmy.world 9 months ago
My cat kept meowing at cabinets and mirrors randomly when I was standing near them. After a few days I noticed he was meowing at me, he just was looking straight at me in the reflection, instead of turning around.
philipp_@discuss.tchncs.de 9 months ago
I think that was what felisneurologists call “not his moment with the brain cell”.
Maalus@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Nah, it’s me who needed the braincell. He was using the mirror to look straight at me. He knew I was behind him, he wasn’t confused about there being a different person in the mirror. He was too lazy to move his head high to look at me directly, so he kept looking through the mirror so he didn’t have to.
dumbass@leminal.space 9 months ago
MossyFeathers@pawb.social 9 months ago
Right, but how many of those reactions were because the animal thought they were looking at another animal, as opposed to reactions because they’re seeing themselves in an unexpected place?
I mean, I bet many animals can see their own reflection when they go to get water; if you only ever saw your reflection in puddles or lakes, it’d be potentially terrifying to suddenly see yourself materialize in the middle of the jungle.
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I read recently that chickens pass the mirror test but don’t really give a damn about their own reflection so the researchers had to use an alternative method to prove it. They found that lone cockerals don’t crow because there are no other chickens to alert, they will crow in the presence of even one other chicken but will not crow when left with just their own reflection, implying they know its not another chicken.
grue@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Do they crow in the presence of a photo of a different chicken?
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 9 months ago
No idea, that would be an interesting followup study.
I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 9 months ago
It would work better if it were a video of a different chicken
Anticorp@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Are we sure they can actually see their reflection and identify it as a chicken?