Par Sabrina Kim
le 13 Décembre 2015
As more and more specialists campaign for the rights of dolphins and whales, it’s becoming clear that these marine mammals have traits that seem more and more human everyday. There have been plenty of claims that these cetaceans are self-aware—they have the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror. But how can we know for sure? How can we determine whether or not they have a conscience?
In this article, I would like to explore these questions and leave you with some compelling evidence through a fascinating test, designed to determine if an animal is aware of itself at a level comparable to a human. With that, I present to you: the mirror test.
Knowledge and awareness of self
Created in 1969 by Gordon Gallup, a professor of psychology at the University of Albania, the mirror test underwent its first trials on great apes. In the beginning, the animals were allowed to adjust to the presence of the mirror itself. Habituation is necessary for the test to be effective—at first, the ape behaves as if it has met a new member of its species (see video below).
However, after just moments of acclimation to the mirror, the ape began to make faces at itself, jump around, or inspect the inside of its mouth. It seemed like it could use its reflection to recognize not only its own body movements, but also its own face. But how could we know for sure?
In order to verify this self-awareness, the researchers left a small, green mark on an orangutan’s face. When the ape observed itself in the mirror, it moved its hand right to the green marks—showing that it recognized that something was different about itself. This test also worked on human toddlers, showing the similarities between us and our close cousins.