Dog Self Awareness
They say that a mirror is a gateway to another dimension. But for me, a mirror is a tool I use to simply adore my own devilishly handsome looks. Even though sometimes the mirror seems to not agree with that statement. Human beings are fascinated with themselves and how they look and how people perceive them. Most spend hours upon hours in the mirror admiring their ourselves, trying to fix and nip at any faults they might find. Humans are conscious spiritual beings who understand self and have a greater understanding of life and all surroundings. We know once we look at a mirror, the mirror gives a reflection of the person looking, normally yourself. But what about animals such as a cat or dog. Do dogs recognise themselves in a mirror? Do they have that conscious spark to tell their brains that the dog they see in the mirror is himself and not another dog looking at them? Well below is what scientist have found out about a dogs reflection in the mirror.
Dogs Reflection In The Mirror.
If you take a young puppy and place the dog in front of a mirror. That pup will bark at his own reflection thinking it is another dog. In the pup's mind, it is saying, "Wow! I found a new playmate." But after futile gestures for the pup in the mirror to interact, the pup eventually loses interest. The pup eventually may grow up and ignore the mirror only seeing it as a useless object with no purpose.
There are however animals with self-awareness which will recognise themself in a mirror. Animals such as Dolphins, Orangutans and Gorillas. Most other species of animals such as cats, dogs, raccoons, bears etc, will either treat the image as another animal, or come to ignore it completely.
If you take a young puppy and place the dog in front of a mirror. That pup will bark at his own reflection thinking it is another dog. In the pup's mind, it is saying, "Wow! I found a new playmate." But after futile gestures for the pup in the mirror to interact, the pup eventually loses interest. The pup eventually may grow up and ignore the mirror only seeing it as a useless object with no purpose.
There are however animals with self-awareness which will recognise themself in a mirror. Animals such as Dolphins, Orangutans and Gorillas. Most other species of animals such as cats, dogs, raccoons, bears etc, will either treat the image as another animal, or come to ignore it completely.
Dogs Fail The Mirror Test
Gordon Gallup, a psychologist from the State University of New York at Albany, did a similar experiment on chimpanzees. First he introduced a mirror into the home cage of a chimpanzee. At first they reacted as if they were seeing another individual but over time they learned that this was their own reflection. Next Gallup anesthetised the chimpanzee and painted a red mark on its eyebrow and another over its ear. When the anaesthesia wore off, the chimp failed to show any interest in the marks until it caught sight of itself in the mirror. On seeing its image with the red marks the chimp began to act like children who know that they are looking at themselves in the mirror, and began to touch their own eyebrow and ear, while carefully watching its image in the mirror. Gallup believes that this means that the chimp is self-aware. It understands that it is an individual and that the reflection that it is looking at is of himself.
The conclusion that researchers drew from the fact that dogs fail the mark and mirror test is that dogs lack self-awareness, and thus consciousness. Another conclusion that could be drawn, of course, is that dogs recognize that that is their own reflection, but they are simply not as vain and concerned with their appearance as higher primates.
Gordon Gallup, a psychologist from the State University of New York at Albany, did a similar experiment on chimpanzees. First he introduced a mirror into the home cage of a chimpanzee. At first they reacted as if they were seeing another individual but over time they learned that this was their own reflection. Next Gallup anesthetised the chimpanzee and painted a red mark on its eyebrow and another over its ear. When the anaesthesia wore off, the chimp failed to show any interest in the marks until it caught sight of itself in the mirror. On seeing its image with the red marks the chimp began to act like children who know that they are looking at themselves in the mirror, and began to touch their own eyebrow and ear, while carefully watching its image in the mirror. Gallup believes that this means that the chimp is self-aware. It understands that it is an individual and that the reflection that it is looking at is of himself.
The conclusion that researchers drew from the fact that dogs fail the mark and mirror test is that dogs lack self-awareness, and thus consciousness. Another conclusion that could be drawn, of course, is that dogs recognize that that is their own reflection, but they are simply not as vain and concerned with their appearance as higher primates.
But my conclusion is that dogs probably know that it is there own reflection and simply doesn't give a cat's poo pot. They are simply not that interested in looking at their own self when they have a nice bowl of food to eat, a cat to bark at and a good master to love.
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