Animals Reacting To Their Reflection In Mirrors Is The Best Thing On The Internet

Nov 14, 2018 by apost team

Last summer, Untamed Photography set up a mirror in the Amazon rainforest in order to gauge the intelligence of big cats. They also videoed the reactions of various animals that caught sight of themselves in the mirror.

The resulting video is amusing mainly because it’s evident that the animals have no clue that they’re looking at their own reflections. An inquisitive cougar keeps returning to the mirror in a vain attempt to figure it out.

A group of pig-like peccaries stumbles across the mirror and beats a hasty retreat. A bird attacks its own reflection while snarling jaguar paws at the mirror.

A smaller spotted cat, perhaps an ocelot, gazes into the mirror and then walks away.

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A scientist, Dr. Gordon Gallup, devised the mirror test, more formally known as the “Mirror Self-Recognition” (MSR) Test in 1970. He hypothesized that an animal that recognized its own reflection possessed some level of self-awareness and capacity for thinking.

He further speculated that most animals would fail the test and treat their reflection as another animal.

Gallup’s second hypothesis has been proven right over the years: Most animals flunk the mirror test. Even human children fail the test until they’re between 18 to 24 months old. The few animals that consistently pass the mirror test include orcas, bottlenose dolphins, some elephants, some great apes, and some birds.

Gorillas, curiously, are among the animals that often fail the mirror test. Another video, which was filmed in 2014, shows a silverback gorilla repeatedly making threat displays at its own reflection. It pounds the ground with its hands and runs off to the side. On one occasion, the gorilla charges straight into the mirror.

Gorillas, however, don’t always fail. Some gorillas do seem to understand they are looking at their own reflection and react accordingly.

Did you enjoy the videos? Have you ever heard of the mirror test? Please tell us what you think in the comments box below and pass this video to your family and friends.