This is the research work of up and coming scientist, Josh Plotnik at Emory. He sent Speedy his story. Check it out. And check out the videos on his homepage.
Most people have rather set, morning routines. Wake up, use the toilet, take a shower, stare blankly into a mirror while brushing your teeth, applying make-up, fixing your hair, etc. Clearly, all of the latter, mirror-guided behaviors are based on the fact that the person using the mirror recognizes that the image is simply a reflection of self. You don't quickly cover yourself when you walk past the mirror in the morning, or wonder why the strange person in the mirror seems to be imitating your every move, because you long ago became aware that mirrors are good for self-reflection. This capacity for what we scientists call "mirror self-recognition" or MSR, is actually quite rare in the animal kingdom. Chimpanzees are very good at it, as are most of the Great Apes (including chimps, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos). Recently, dolphins and magpies, of the corvid bird family, also demonstrated it. But all other species, including monkeys, dogs and cats, fail this test. In fact, when presented with a mirror, they indefinitely seem to identify the mirror-reflected individual as a stranger, threatening it, looking away from it, or simply ignoring it. Our research group at Emory University recently tested Asian elephants, who passed the mirror test and seemed to clearly recognize themselves in the mirror. Using a test first developed for chimpanzees, we first watched to see whether or not the elephants would show self-directed behavior (humans brush their teeth or fix their hair, chimpanzees inspect parts of their bodies they can't see without a mirror for instance)....the elephants would do similar things, like inspect their ears or the inside of their mouths, or bring food to the mirror to watch themselves eat. We then conduct a test called the mark test, where we mark the elephants on their heads to see whether or not, in front of the mirror, they reach up and touch the mark. One of our elephants, Happy, actually tried to wipe the mark off in front of the mirror....if Happy did not recognize herself, we might expect her to wonder why the strange elephant in the mirror had a mark of paint on her face and try to wipe it OFF THE MIRROR. What most interests us, however, is the fact that all of these MSR species seem to be highly empathetic, and/or highly social animals. What's the link between recognizing yourself in a mirror and caring for others' needs? We're not entirely sure yet, but these questions form the basis for our future research on elephants and other highly cognitive animals.
For more on this work and videos: http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/elephants.html
For more on this work and videos: http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/elephants.html
