Does Your Cat Know Itself in the Mirror?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the cutest cat in the world?

Cat: Yeah, It’s me. Image source: mbd

Of course, such a peaceful scene is rarely seen. In more cases, your cat master is like this in front of the mirror:

Cat: Who is on the other side? See the watermark for image source

Even like this:

Cat: kill you... See the watermark for image source

This makes us wonder: does the cat master know itself in the mirror?

What is the Mirror Test Trying to Prove?  

Well, if you ask this question, you actually have the same thought as scientists. “Do animals know themselves in the mirror?” This is a classic question, and the famous mirror test is designed to answer this question.

The first person that presented the mirror test was Gordon G. Gallup Jr., a U.S. psychologist. 

He intended to use this method to test whether animals have self-recognition ability. The experiment was based on the hypothesis that if animals can recognize the image in the mirror as themselves, rather than other animals, they can be considered to be self-aware.

See the watermark for image source

How to Complete a Mirror Test?

Then how can we know that animals recognize themselves in the mirror? In the classic mirror test, researchers anesthetize animals first, mark them (the mark is usually in an area that the animals rarely touch under normal conditions), and let them observe themselves in the mirror. If animals begin to examine the marks on their body, doesn't that mean they are aware that the marks seen in the mirror are actually on themselves?

In the picture, a chimpanzee's superciliary ridge is stained with a clear red dye. Image source: Science

This was what Gallup did in his experiment. He discovered chimpanzees that had a close genetic relationship with humans, stained red marks between their eyebrows (which the chimpanzees can't see at ordinary times), and then observed the chimpanzees' touch of marks without and with a mirror.

The statistical results showed that compared with the absence of a mirror, the number of times chimpanzees touched the marked areas increased significantly (400%-1000%) in the presence of a mirror. Some chimpanzees were observed touching the marked areas and then sniffing their fingers, as if trying to figure out what the marks were. These behaviors revealed that chimpanzees were clearly aware of the presence of the dye on their faces by observing the images in the mirror, which demonstrated their self-awareness (exactly speaking, visual self-awareness). 

Which Animals Passed the Mirror Test?

Now that the principle of mirror test is clear, how do other animals perform in this test besides chimpanzees? I know you are most concerned about the performance of your own cat master, but let's begin with humans first.

Why me? 

In 1972, Beulah Amsterdam pioneered a mirror test with little Homo sapiens to investigate self-recognition in children. In this experiment, mothers applied a little lipstick (or rouge) to one side of their children's noses and observed their children's behaviors in front of the mirror. The results indicated that none of the children under 18 months were interested in the marks on their faces. About 42% of children aged 18-20 months showed significant curiosity about the marks, while 63% of children aged 20-24 months showed self-awareness.

A little Homo sapien recognizes himself in the mirror. Image source: Wukong

In addition to well-performing little Homo sapiens, researchers also conducted the same experiment on many animals. Among them, a handful of animals, such as bonobos, chimpanzees, Asian elephants, Eurasian magpies and labroides dimidiatus passed the mirror test. Whether gorillas passed the test is in dispute. Many species, including monkeys, pandas and sea lions, failed the test.

As for your cat master... let me directly post some pictures:

Who am I?

Come on, let's battle

You don't understand the joy of dance~

Yes, the cat masters failed the mirror test. They seem to be more inclined to show aggression to the images in the mirror. Maybe in their eyes, that is a rival for favor?

Is the Mirror Test Scientific?

The mirror test was originally designed to test whether animals are self-aware, but as you can see, this test has an obvious drawback, that is, it relies heavily on vision. As we know, however, many animals don't rely primarily on their visual system to perceive the world. Even animals with good vision, such as cats and dogs, rely far less on vision than humans do. Researchers currently generally believe that the mirror test can prove that an animal has self-awareness, but failing to pass the mirror test doesn't mean that an animal doesn't have self-awareness. For example, animals distinguish themselves from other peers by sound and smell, which is also a sign of self-awareness, but this is obviously beyond the mirror test...

In addition, mirrors are artificial objects that do not exist in nature (although water and ice can reflect objects, they are obviously not as effective as mirrors). Many animals may not lack self-awareness, but just don't know how to use mirrors. Imagine if you gave an ancient a smartphone, how would he/she feel when seeing his/her faces on the screen through the front-facing camera? Animals might feel the same way when seeing themselves in the mirror. 

Almost Scared to Death

Although in many experiments, researchers put animals in an environment with mirrors and familiarize them with the functions of mirrors in advance, considering that animals don't seem to need to use mirrors under natural conditions, it seems unfair to expect them to fully understand how to use a mirror with just a few exposures.

But anyway, the mirror test still provides us with a new way of thinking to pat cats: it is so amusing to observe the reaction of the cat master in front of a mirror...