Animals' Reactions to Mirrors: From Self-Awareness to Aggression

Animal mirror reactions reveal surprising self-awareness levels.

### Animals' Reactions to Their Reflections
* 🐒 Elephants, known for their self-awareness, inspected unseen body parts upon mirror recognition.
* 🐻 A bear's startled reaction highlights the unpredictable nature of surprising a bear.
* 🦁 Lions, despite lacking self-recognition, displayed innate curiosity upon encountering their reflection.
* 🐬 Dolphins, unlike humans, can recognize themselves in mirrors as early as six months old.
* 🐆 A cheetah male mistook its reflection for a **friend**, showcasing its social nature.
* 🦍 A gorilla was fascinated by its reflection, particularly its tongue.
* 🐕 Dogs, relying on scent, quickly lose interest in mirrors due to their lack of self-awareness.
* 🐿️ A territorial squirrel aggressively attacked its reflection, mistaking it for an intruder.

A not-so-known fact is that individuals of most animal species can't recognize their reflections as themselves, so it's

always interesting to see how they'll react. Elephants happen to be one of the only animals that have self-awareness, so

after first testing if the mirror does the same as they do, when they finally understand it's them, they start

inspecting parts of their bodies they've never seen before, like inside their mouth. This bear's reaction shows why you

never want to surprise a bear. [Music] When a lion was presented a mirror, even though it couldn't understand that it

was himself, he still knew something wasn't right and kept checking the back, showing their innate [Music]

curiosity. A six-month-old dolphin is usually able to recognize themselves in the mirror, which is much earlier than humans

do. And if you put a mirror in front of them, they'll start exploring what they look like when they do certain things,

such as being upside down. Do they figure out that it's them? But they show interest to look at themselves. So, one

thing is to understand it's themselves; it's a whole other thing to say, 'I want to look at myself.' Adult cheetah males

are actually social creatures, so when this one saw his reflection, it thought it was a [Music] friend. This gorilla was absolutely

amazed by his own reflection and couldn't get over how weird tongues are, which, to be honest, I don't blame

[Music] him. Dogs lack self-awareness, so it's almost impossible for them to recognize that the reflection is them, but since

they rely a lot on scent, they usually get bored or uninterested in mirrors very [Music] quickly. Squirrels are very territorial

animals, so if they see other squirrels feeding in their territory, they will chase or nip at it. This squirrel kept

Attacking the mirror! Window, window. Please go up the window. Oh my God! This pair of monkeys were not happy with their new

competition at a safari. Some visitors recorded a lion getting a big scare from its reflection. This is an extremely rare

video of a cat actually understanding how reflections and mirrors work, and it is proven by the owner showing a finger

behind the cat and it knowing where it [Music] is. When some wild dogs went for a drink,

they were really taken aback by their reflections and got into a strange predicament. If it's even worth drinking

With less than 200 white tigers left in the world, most are currently in

sanctuaries. This beautiful white tiger surprisingly seems uninterested in its reflection. A bear in Finland got

startled by a mirror and then went to the other side of the road to sit and wait. With his camera, I'm startled, but

you know what? After a few minutes, the bear had enough and knocked over the mirror and walked away. Apparently, this

cat got into a blinking competition with itself. [Music] Chihuahuas usually don't rank at the top

on intelligence, but interestingly enough, this dog understood the reflection after seeing her owner in the mirror. Hello, hello. An amazing moment to see is

from a cow that has buttons she uses to speak. When she saw the mirror, she immediately pressed the button that

symbolizes her friend, cow Nala, meaning she thought it was another cow. Nala is the name of the only other cow she knows.

When a puppy saw a mirror for the first time, he thought he made a friend, which is a little

heartbreaking. Roosters are sort of terrifying; if there are more roosters and fewer hens, then they tend to fight.

each other to gain more hens, so if they see another rooster, they see more competition; hence why they tend to

attack their reflection. Octopuses have demonstrated intelligence in a number of ways, with them even being able to get themselves out of

complicated containers, such as a closed [Music] jar. But after multiple tests, it's safe to say that octopuses cannot understand

their reflection, and since they're solitary animals that prefer to live alone in the dark, they tend to lash out

at the mirror. An absolutely amazing intelligence test done by the BBC was to put a bowl behind a mirror to see if pigs have

self-awareness and are able to tell where the food is. It took this 6-week-old piglet just a

few hours to learn the concept of a mirror. To test if magpies understood their reflection, they placed small

yellow stickers under their beak to see if they'll try to remove it, and scientists were surprised they actually

[Music] did. And well, this wasn't completely surprising considering they're one of the most intelligent animals to exist,

with even having emotional capabilities shown by the death rituals they do, in which they express grief over their lost

[Music] comrade. Manta rays have the largest brain of any fish, so it wasn't completely unexpected when it was found

that they passed a self-recognition test. When they put a mirror in the tank, they didn't react the way they would with

another manta ray; instead, they kept passing by the mirror and looking at themselves. Leopards are one of the least

understood wild cats, but we do know that they're the least social of the African big cats. So this leopard did not know

how to react when another leopard got so close. If you give them long enough time, chimpanzees are some of the only animals

that are able to recognize their [Music] reflections. Sadly, for many animals, the mirror test can be more confusing than

anything, since they have a very different vision, which may contribute to why they can't identify that it's their

reflection. Snakes, for example, are dichromatic and can detect infrared radiation, enabling them to generate a thermal image of predators and

prey. Horses are unable to see a short distance directly in front of them, since how their eyes are

[Music] positioned. Bobcats are crepuscular hunters and great fishers as well, with

them being able to take on small sharks and drag them out of the water. When a bobcat in the wild encountered a mirror, it showed

how solitary and territorial they [Music] are. Since only one bird species is shown to have evidence of self-recognition, most of

them will be aggressive towards their reflection because they compete for resources. This man got very unlucky when a bird got a glimpse of itself in his

rearview mirror, and the bird starts attacking [Music] its reflection. A very well-known fact is that, from tiny geckos to giant Komodo dragons,

lizards tend to be territorial and spend most of their time alone [Music].

Animals Seeing Themselves For The First Time!

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Animal Reactions to Mirrors: Self-Awareness and Recognition

Most animals don't recognize their reflections; elephants are an exception, showing self-awareness.

A bear's reaction to its reflection highlights its unpredictable nature.

A lion, while not recognizing itself, showed innate curiosity and suspicion towards its reflection.

Dolphins, unlike humans, recognize themselves in mirrors at a much younger age and explore their image.

A cheetah mistook its reflection for a friend, highlighting its social nature.

Varied Responses Based on Species and Social Behavior

A gorilla showed amazement and fascination with its reflection, particularly its tongue.

Dogs, relying on scent, show little interest in mirrors due to lack of self-awareness.

A territorial squirrel attacked its reflection, mistaking it for an intruder.

Monkeys reacted negatively to their reflections, viewing them as competition.

A lion's startled reaction to its reflection is highlighted as a rare occurrence.

Exceptional Cases and Further Observations

A cat demonstrated understanding of reflections by responding to its owner's finger behind the mirror.

Wild dogs showed confusion and hesitation towards their reflections in water.

A white tiger showed disinterest in its reflection.

A bear reacted defensively to its reflection before knocking over the mirror.

A cat engaged in a playful interaction with its reflection.

A Chihuahua, unusually, understood its reflection after seeing its owner in the mirror.