Article is here:
Mirror Self-Recognition in Birds from Brain Physiology, Cognition and Consciousness discussion board on Nature Network
What caused me to look this up this morning, is i've always noticed that cats and dogs dont really pay attention to themselves in mirrors. There are a couple of theories why, one is that they can't "smell" the reflection. This would suggest that cats and dogs it would seem....are not self aware. Because it would suggest that they would only regard a reflection as another animal. Or there is the possibility that they simply, well....don't care!
However some studies have shown that some animals DO recognise their reflection, and recognise the reflection as them self, something called MSR (Mirror Self Recognition). It's interesting because it's only when a baby reaches the age of 4 that they then begin to realise the reflection is themselves. Does this suggest that babies at the age of 3 are not self aware?
Crows have long since been regarded as the Einsteins of the Bird world, but this also extends to other members of the Corvus family including ravens and magpies. Even pigeons have been show to have basic MSR.
The article is interesting because it's the first time non mammal species have displayed MSR. Elephants, Dolphins, Apes and Pigs have rudimentory MSR awareness but so do certain members of the bird family.
When you consider that birds evolved from dinosaurs, who were notoriously small brained creatures, its amazing what evolution has done for them. In Essence, a Crow or Magpie is more intelligent than a 3 year old baby. It's taken 65 million years for this to happen however.
When you consider it is said that the first proto Homo Sapiens branched out from Apes some 3 million years ago and have gotten to the level of intelligence we are already at, it makes you wonder what we could become in another 60 million years.
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Originally Posted by 00ragincajun00
