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The ability to recognize oneself in a mirror is an exceedingly rare capacity in the animal kingdom. To date, only humans and great apes have shown convincing evidence of mirror self-recognition. Two dolphins were exposed to reflective surfaces, and both demonstrated responses consistent with the use of the mirror to investigate marked parts of the body. This ability to use a mirror to inspect parts of the body is a striking example of evolutionary convergence with great apes and humans.
The capacity for mirror self-recognition (MSR) has been found only in humans and great apes (1–8). In humans, MSR does not emerge reliably until 18–24 months of age (9) and marks the beginning of a developmental process of achieving increasingly abstract psychological levels of self-awareness, including introspection and mental state attribution (10, 11). The first evidence for MSR in a nonhuman species was experimentally demonstrated in the common chimpanzee (1), but numerous subsequent attempts showed no convincing evidence of self-recognition in a variety of other primates and nonprimates, including monkeys, lesser apes, and elephants (12–18). All of these species, including African gray parrots (19) demonstrate the ability to use a mirror to mediate or guide their behavior. A provocative debate continues to rage about whether self-recognition in great apes implies that they are also capable of more abstract levels of self-awareness (20). Therefore, research on self-recognition in other species will have profound implications for the idea that humans are the only species to conceive of their own identity.
Originally posted by LadySkadi
Are dolphins Sentient beings? I've always believed it possible...
Originally posted by crazydaisy
reply to post by davespanners
Thank you for sharing your personal little dolphins, adorable. When photographing them you might want to set your camera to a faster shutter speed.
Originally posted by IntastellaBurst
Whales and dolphins are much more intelligent than we think, ... we still have no idea what they are saying, yet scientists have discovered they do have names assigned to themselves, .... and even talk about other whales/dolpins who arent around.
are they gossiping about them ?? imagine the implications of that.