What does a bipedal, land-inhabiting ape have in common with a flippered ocean mammal separated by 100 million years of evolution? As it turns out, a very rare cognitive capacity. Researchers Diana Reiss and Lori Marino have demonstrated that bottlenose dolphins are able to recognize themselves in mirrors, a trait previously believed to be limited to humans and to some extent chimpanzees. People have known for a long time about the intelligence of dolphins, but this new finding is fascinating and intriguing. Why would dolphins be able to recognize themselves in mirrors? Is this form of communication about the self a byproduct of the evolution of another mental process? If so, what, and why do humans and dolphins share it? All of these questions are at the core of the research being done to broaden our knowledge of this unique cognitive ability.
The researchers began investigating the possibility of self-recognition in dolphins by erecting a two way mirror behind a clear wall of the dolphins’ pool. They observed that the dolphins appeared to show off in front of the mirror by swimming back and forth rapidly, twisting and turning, and opening and closing their mouths. Basically, the dolphins were exhibiting play behavior in front of the mirrors. Interestingly, he dolphins did not interact with each other much in front of the mirror and instead focused on their own antics. To test whether a dolphin actually recognized that the image was of itself, the researchers conducted another experiment. They set up a mirror and other reflective surfaces that weren’t as clear as a mirror, and then made a mark on the dolphin in non-toxic black ink or a water-filled marker to control for the sensation of marking. The dolphins with real marks spent more time in front of the best mirrors looking at themselves than dolphins without marks, which glanced at themselves and then ignored the mirrors. In the absence of mirrors, the dolphins went to the best reflective surfaces to look at their marks. This study suggests that dolphins are truly capable of mirror self-recognition.
One of the most interesting parts of the study found that dolphins cannot recognize themselves in mirrors until they are about 1.5-2 years old, the same age as humans. More research is necessary to understand this incredible cognitive capacity on dolphins and humans and what it means about convergent evolution and natural selection.
Posted by Alex Sprague
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Asian elephants are also known to practice this behavior of self-recognition. Biologists did the same kinds of experiments with elephants and found similar results. I wonder how many other species of organisms in the animal kingdom are capable of this behavior?
ReplyDeleteAbbie Lamarre-DeJesus
I've heard about these findings before, and they are very interesting. It raises interesting questions about animal "intelligence." Dogs and cats, which also show a great deal of what we call intelligence, do not recognize themselves in a mirror. It is an interesting phenomenon that seems obvious to us, but is quite remarkable in the animal kingdom.
ReplyDeleteDana Mirsky
It's interesting that it takes both humans and dolphins time to recognize themselves. If we can recognize our parents, why can't we recognize ourselves? I wonder what part of development this relates to. Maybe it is just the fact that they are seeing themselves through the medium of a mirror and not first hand.
ReplyDelete- Bailey Mannix
I wonder what the advantage is, that would make recognizing ones self beneficial, to dolphins or apes? What would be the evolutionary advantage especially in a world without mirrors for species other than humans?
ReplyDeletePosted by Shyla Morsbach
Upon further investigation it seems that MSR (mirror self-recognition) is not limited to only apes and dolphins. Elephants, macaques, and magpies have also passed the "mirror test". However, it is still a very rare ability in the animal kingdom. My guess is that this ability is a byproduct of some function used in social communication or problem solving, since all of these species are highly intelligent and live in groups with complex social interactions.
ReplyDelete-Alex Sprague
I saw a news report about this on Thanksgiving day! It is really interesting. I wonder if self recognition evolved separately in different species and is just more favored by natural selection. I agree with Bailey that it is strange that self recognition takes time in both dolphins and humans. I wonder if baby development goes through the same processes in a lot of other species too.
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