It’s hard to know how smart animals are for the simple reason that they’re not able to come right out and tell us. Scientists have developed various methods over the years to assess animal intelligence, but a simple new body-awareness test involving elephants may be a promising new tool to add to the arsenal.
We all like to admire ourselves in the mirror from time to time, but there’s a bird in Australia that seems to have developed a rather unhealthy fixation, gazing upon its reflection for hours on end while seemingly oblivious to its surroundings. It’s pretty funny, but should we be worried about this fine feathered…
Very few animals are capable of recognizing themselves in the mirror. New research suggests that manta rays are capable of this unique cognitive feat—a possible sign that these fish are self-aware.
Of all the animals that exist on this planet, only a precious few have the capacity to recognize themselves in a mirror. These fascinating — and at times hilarious — videos taken by photographer Xavier Hubert-Brierre reveal the reactions of various animals as they gaze upon their reflections for the very first time.
An idle idea of Darwin’s has turned, over the years, into a rather controversial psychological test. A seemingly random list of animals “pass” this test, but some recent results call into question what a passing result means. And it's all what what you see when you look in a mirror.
A number of websites recently reported on a breakthrough in which a robot was alleged to have successfully passed the mirror test. In turn, many of these news sites declared that the machine had achieved "self-awareness," proclaiming it to be an important step forward in the development of advanced robotics.
