Mirror, my beautiful mirror … In the world of Walt Disney and in our bathrooms, the role of the utensil is well known: tell us who is the most beautiful – or the most beautiful, of course. In that of ethologists, he fills a completely different use: telling us who is the most intelligent. Or more exactly that would have a kind of self-awareness, a long-standing faculty considered as human. In 1970, the psychologist Gordon Gallup caused a sensation by showing that chimpanzees placed in front of a mirror tried to erase a brand from their forehead which had been deposited there without their knowledge. Since then, the “mirror test” has flourished. Bonobos and orangutans were quickly accepted at the club, followed by the great dolphins, orcas, horses and elephants of Asia, or even gray parrots of Gabon or Pies.
Over time, however, the universality of the method was called into question. If the gorillas make it poor, it is probably not by default of intelligence but because, never looking at each other, they do not observe their reflection any more. If dogs also trip, it is because their perception of the other – and undoubtedly of themselves – is less visual than olfactive. “I consider that all animals have a self -awareness, at least to a certain degree, decides the primatologist Frans de Waal. The difference lies in the way in which the mirror test exploits this consciousness, certain species firing better than others. “
The Dutch-American scientist does not hesitate to describe as “incredible” the study published on February 6 in the Reports of the National Academy of American Sciences (PNAS). In 2019 and 2022, Masanori Kohda and his colleagues from the Metropolitan University of Osaka had already shown that the label cleaner, a small fish with blue and silver stripes, was going to scratch against rocks after having observed in the mirror a brand on his forehead. “But what did he perceive?”, The question remained unanswered, according to the Japanese biologist.
a mental image
In this third study, his team initially analyzes the behavior against the mirror. First the animal attacks its image. Then after a few minutes, after understanding that the Unwelcome reflected its own movements, it calms down. Faced with a brand, he tries to erase it. Once this test is successful, he is offered a new test. This time, photos are presented to him. Faced with its own image, there is still marble. Same thing in front of an individual with his head and the body of another fish. On the other hand, facing another head, whatever the associated body, it attacks. Similarly, if his photo presents on his head an impromptu brand (in another color than blue or silver), he tries to remove it. It does not do anything, however, if the brand is on the photo of another fish.
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