What our pets see in the mirror

Almost all pet owners have paid attention to their “relationship” with the mirror. Many owners are sure that their pets not only like to look at themselves in the mirror, but they are even aware that they see themselves there. Of course, due to the fact that animals can not talk and cannot tell their impressions, we have to focus only on their reactions.

How Gallup test helps to understand what an animal sees in the mirror

Monkeys were the best at “mastering the mirror”

Three decades ago, U.S. psychologist Gordon Gallup conducted experiments with chimpanzees by placing several paint stains on their faces while the animals were under anesthesia. And when the monkey woke up, he was given a mirror. The chimpanzee touched the stained areas, then looked at its own paint-stained fingers, and often began to scrub away the stain. This made it clear that the animal knew it was in the mirror and that it, too, was stained with paint, not someone else.

Subsequently, different animals – dogs, birds, elephants, dolphins, cats and more than 20 kinds of monkeys – were tested. Great apes – orang-utans, gorillas and chimpanzees – were the best at “communicating with the mirror. Moreover, it took animals several minutes to several days to recognize themselves in the mirror.

For some individuals this task was easier than for others. Dolphins almost passed the exam, as some scientists still had doubts. Some animals initially thought their reflection was a congener. This didn’t really surprise the scientists, though – after all, humans who have never seen a mirror can behave exactly the same way.

How birds react to the mirror

“Who are you? Come on out!”

Feathered friends react to the reflection in the mirror as if they were a real bird of their species. A prime example of this is the behavior of parrots, for which owners hang a mirror in their cage for entertainment if the bird lives without a mate. This was once taken advantage of by Australian ornithologists who needed to catch male lyrebirds for research. Scientists set traps for them, the back wall of which was mirrored, so the “fighting” bird would go in there to fight a rival.

Clever “magpies-crows.”

Crows and magpies have surprised scientists with their ability to use a mirror to orient themselves perfectly in space

But not all birds think there is another bird in the mirror when they see their reflection there. Magpies and crows are able to recognize themselves. They not only understand that they are reflected in the mirror, but they can even use it to orient themselves in space, for example, to find food.

Everything that is reflected in the mirror can also be perceived by the animal as existing in reality. Therefore, a bird that is let flying around the room may try to get into the mirror. But usually it turns aside when it flies up, because it thinks that another bird flies to it from the mirror and a collision is inevitable. Quite quickly the bird understands that it is impossible to get inside the mirror, and leaves these attempts.