Animals and birds with a sense of self

Not to diminish the accomplishments of elephants, but Richard Collins draws the line too narrowly when he writes that only they, along with “humans, the other great apes, and dolphins,” are known to recognise themselves in mirrors (“Why elephants chance their arm”, The Irish Examiner, March 10).

Magpies have also passed the mirror test for self-awareness, and it seems likely their crow cousins would too. Dogs, which are more olfactorily then visually attuned, don’t seem to recognise themselves in the mirror but do recognise their own scents.

“Only” is a perilous word when applied to animal abilities and sensibilities. We long believed “only humans” possessed self-awareness.

Eric Scigliano

Seattle

WA

USA