Someone has posted this video for fun, but I'm wondering if it has scientific value. Self awareness tests have repeatedly shown that virtually no animals can recognise themselves in a mirror, and assume they are seeing another animal. Elephants are one of the few who understand they are seeing themselves.
The way this cat puts its paws up to its ears suggests he didn't know quite what they looked like, and is touching them so he knows which part he is seeing in the reflection. I've never seen this with cats; I usually find they ignore what's in the mirror.
Interesting. Young cats, in my experience, so seem to react to their reflection but apparently assume it's another cat; in this case, the cat looks young but does indeed seem to understand that it's seeing itself. We should always be wary of anthropomorphising what may be conspecific reaction behaviour when trying to understand animals and no cat has ever passed the mirror test under controlled conditions, and that there are methodological flaws to using the mirror test as an indication of self-awareness (some species of ant, for example, pass it). However, it's also been my experience that feline intelligence varies enormously so, as the cat in the video is so cute, I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt and say it's a genius supercat.
@Eclipsechaser Precisely. It confirms nothing, but it looks just enough like the cat recognises itself that it could be interesting to see a proper study.
i had a cat, rossini, who would play pattycake with the kitty in the mirror. another one, robin, screamed and ran when i held her up to the mirror. i still have the scars. every other cat i've ever known has looked in the mirror, seen me in the mirror, and looked up and back to see whether i was really in the mirror or still in the room. they could all recognize me, but not necessarily themselves.
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@Eclipsechaser they're all individuals! i will add that nothing i wrote about was the result of any experimentation. they just all liked to sit on my lap on the toilet lol and the mirrored shower door is right next to that. well, rossini discovered the mirrored wall in the dining room by himself, but the others were just sitting on my lap and looking on their own. little smarties!
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