In hours of underwater video footage from a New York aquarium, a beluga whale named Natasha stretches her neck, pirouettes, nods, and shakes her head in front of a two-way mirror. Her daughter Maris does much the same. According to a new study published in PLOS One, both animals show the behavioral hallmarks of mirror self-recognition—a cognitive ability long considered a marker of self-awareness, and one that had never before been documented in beluga whales.
If the result holds up, belugas join a remarkably short list. The mirror self-recognition test (MSR) has been passed, with varying degrees of confidence, by humans (starting around age two), a handful of great apes (chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and—somewhat contentiously—gorillas), Asian elephants, bottlenose dolphins, probably magpies, possibly orcas, and, if you can believe it, a cleaner wrasse. That’s it. No dogs, no cats, no monkeys. Plenty of species we had assumed were self-aware have been tested and failed.
Looking at the mirror
So what is this test, exactly, and what is it supposed to tell us?
The procedure is this: While the animal isn’t looking, researchers place a mark on a spot it can only see via a reflection. A mirror is then put in front of the animal while the researchers watch. If the animal touches or examines the mark while looking at its reflection, it comprehends that the figure in the mirror is itself. The test is intuitive and easy to perform—and almost no species passes.
Why is this a test of self-awareness in the first place? The logic, going back to the psychologist Gordon Gallup (who invented the test in 1970), is that to use a mirror as a tool for inspecting your own body, you need a mental representation of yourself as a distinct entity. A piece of silvered glass, in this telling, can pry open a lot of cognitive doors.
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More on whatever the mirror test tells us
Stay tuned for updates on whatever the mirror test tells us as the story develops. Related: Even More Batteries Included with Emacs.
Frequently Asked Questions
In hours of underwater footage from a New York aquarium, a beluga named Natasha stretched her neck, pirouetted, nodded, and shook her head in front of a two-way mirror, and her daughter Maris did much the same. Both showed the behavioral hallmarks of mirror self-recognition, documented for the first time in beluga whales.
While the animal is not looking, researchers place a mark on a spot it can only see via a reflection, then put a mirror in front of it. If the animal touches or examines the mark while looking at its reflection, it understands the figure in the mirror is itself. The test was invented by psychologist Gordon Gallup in 1970.
Humans starting around age two, chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and somewhat contentiously gorillas, Asian elephants, bottlenose dolphins, probably magpies, possibly orcas, and a cleaner wrasse. No dogs, no cats, and no monkeys have passed.
The logic is that to use a mirror as a tool for inspecting your own body, you need a mental representation of yourself as a distinct entity. The study on the belugas was published in PLOS One, and the result only holds if it stands up to further scrutiny.
