[4animals] Elephants pass mirror test of self-awareness

[Edelweiss D'Andrea]

Hello animal-loving folks,

This was an interesting article from the Guardian, Vaalea.

If you can find the time, I suggest everyone send in a comment about space
and living conditions for the 600 elephants living in captivity in the US to
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oId=196068&msource=DR061005001
&tr=y&auid=2110715.

Elephants in captivity often suffer due to inadequate space, unnatural
conditions, lack of exercise and social deprivation.   Poor conditions lead
to a range of preventable health issues, including painful arthritis, foot
disease, reproductive and digestive disorders and neurotic behaviors like
swaying and head bobbing.  The poor things!

Cheers for the elephants!

Edelweiss
  -----Original Message-----
  From: 4animals-bounces at ottawaveg.com
[mailto:4animals-bounces at ottawaveg.com]On Behalf Of vaalea
  Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:54 AM
  To: 4animals
  Subject: [4animals] Elephants pass mirror test of self-awareness


  Elephants pass mirror test of self-awareness
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1935538,00.html
  Alok Jha, science correspondent
  Tuesday October 31, 2006
  The Guardian

  Elephants have been found to recognise themselves in a mirror, putting
them in an exclusive club of self-awareness whose other members are great
apes (including humans) and bottlenose dolphins.

  "The social complexity of the elephant, its well-known altruistic
behaviour and, of course, its huge brain, made the elephant a logical
candidate species for testing in front of a mirror," said Joshua Plotnik, a
psychologist at Emory University in Atlanta, who led a team whose study was
published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

  An 8ft mirror was put in the elephant enclosure at the Bronx zoo in New
York and a watch kept on its three inhabitants. The first question was if
they greeted their reflection as if meeting another individual - they did
not make this mistake, and used the mirror to inspect themselves, for
example, moving their trunks to look at the inside of their mouths.

  "Elephants have been tested in front of mirrors before, but previous
studies used relatively small mirrors kept out of the elephants' reach," Dr
Plotnik said. "This study is the first to test the animals in front of a
huge mirror they could touch, rub against, and try to look behind."

  Inspecting the mirror and trying to look behind it - as did the Bronx
elephants - is another indicator of self-awareness. One of the three also
passed the "mark" test when painted in a place it would normally be unable
to see. It touched the paint mark on its head after looking in the mirror.

  Diana Reiss of Columbia University in New York said that the research
helped explain the society in which elephants lived: "Humans, great apes,
dolphins and elephants, well known for their superior intelligence and
complex social systems, are thought to possess the highest forms of empathy
and altruism in the animal kingdom."
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