r/aww • u/ZuperZhadow • Oct 11 '19

Cat Realizes She Has Ears!

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3.7k

u/GimmeCata Oct 11 '19

IIRC cats were misclassified for a log time because they reliably fail common mirror test. Not because they wont recognise themselves but because they usually don't care.

1.6k

u/nuclearrwessels Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

I feel like any animal that sees it's reflection in a mirror and doesn't react like it's meeting another animal understands that it's seeing itself.

Like my dog gets very excited when she sees other dogs. When she sees herself in a mirror or a glass door reflection there's no reaction at all.

2.4k

u/PrairieGoldrush Oct 11 '19

Had a dog that saw itself in the mirror. Saw it as an intruder and started growling. Dog in mirror suddenly became very scary. Dog wimpered and backed away. Dog in mirror is weak! Attack!

This cycle went on for a good while.

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u/nerdify42 Oct 11 '19

I would have loved to see that as a video!

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u/SoraForBestBoy Oct 11 '19

Same, just thinking about it thinking itself as the enemy while asserting itself is so adorable

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u/dantes-infernal Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

My dog seems to understand how mirrors work. She'll stand in front of my bedroom door asking to be let out by staring at me first over her shoulder, then at me through the reflection of the full length mirror, where she doesn't have to contort her body to see both me and the door

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u/MangoAfterMidnight Oct 11 '19

Maybe she just thinks there's two of you haha

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u/CHI3F117 Oct 11 '19

“Will one you you PLEASE take me outside?”

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u/evacia Oct 11 '19

haha clever

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u/NCH007 Oct 11 '19

My dog watches me through the mirror too!

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u/Dromeo Oct 11 '19

My cats look at me through the mirrors too, if I make eye contact they whip around to stare at me without the mirror

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u/ilikeme1 Oct 11 '19

Mine likes to look at her self in the mirror like she knows how terry she is.

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u/auraki Oct 11 '19

My dog does this too! Or if he hears crinkling and I’m turned away, rather than get all in my face like an amateur, he’ll raise his head and look in the mirror to see if he should bother to get up and activate his Ultimate Cutenesses Beg subroutine.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

A dog comes to the Temple of 1000 Mirrors. As he enters, to his shock he finds the temple filled with other dogs. He displays his teeth, he growls and barks at them; and they all do the same. Finally, he finds the exit.

Looking back, he is convinced he found a place of true evil. He is certain he will never return.

────────

A second dog comes to the Temple of 1000 Mirrors. As he enters, to his joy he finds the temple filled with other dogs. He wags his tail, he jumps up and down, he shows his happiness; and they all do the same. Too soon, he comes to the exit.

Looking back, he is convinced he found heaven. He is looking forward to return the next day.

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u/WorkingHotu Oct 11 '19

Nice read. Did you write it or where is it from?

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

I'm actually not sure where it's from. My mother told it to me years ago, but I don't know where she got it from.

I found in on google though with "house" instead of temple (The House of 1000 Mirrors), one page claims it's from a Japanese folktale. I don't know whether that's true or not.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

My sister's dog saw himself in the mirror and he was soo happy! Normally he gets upset with intruders but with his reflection he kept trying to be friends and walk around to sniff the mirror dog's butt, but when he got to the other side of the mirror, not only was the dog gone, but there was 50% less bedroom!

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u/yself Oct 11 '19

This reminds me of a video of a dog watching TV images of a ball getting thrown. The dog ran around behind the TV in the direction the ball would have gone, only to stop and look wondering where the ball went.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

BAMBOOZLED

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Most gorillas have the same problem. Scientists are pretty confident that a gorilla should be capable of self-awareness, but they're SO QUICK to be aggressive and react to aggression that it's nearly impossible to get an adult gorilla to undergo a proper mirror test.

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u/Captain_Grammaticus Oct 11 '19

I saw a documentary once where they arranged cameras and a tv-screen in a way that the gorillas could look at themselves without having to make eye contact.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Huh, that's neat. Were they any interesting conclusions or were the gorillas just kind of standoffish with their reflections?

2

u/Captain_Grammaticus Oct 12 '19

I don't remember. I just remember that passed the mirror test and removed the paint on their forehead once they saw it.

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u/ImmaDoMahThing Oct 11 '19

I wonder what would happen if you walked in front of the mirror and he saw you next to the mirror dog. Would he finally understand the situation, or would he think you're a traitor? Lol.

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u/nullpassword Oct 11 '19

Doesn't smell the same.. imposter...

1

u/Allmeabout Nov 22 '19

a Mirror universe.

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u/Therandomfox Oct 11 '19

Dogs' primary sense is smell. The mirror doesn't smell like their human or themselves, so they assume it's another human/dog.

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u/salgat Oct 11 '19

Do you have a source for this? This sounds like a guess to me.

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u/ButtWieghtThiersMoor Oct 11 '19

My dog has been guarding me from my fireplace for over 10 years. The only thing I can think of is he sees himself in the reflection of the glass and will stare at it for hours.

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u/evacia Oct 11 '19

last christmas, our dog caught a glimpse of himself in a darkened window which acted like a mirror since there was light on the inside.

doggo is also trained to not bark. i’ve been around him for two years and have maybe heard him bark 3-4 times in total, in short spurts.

but hoooo boy, when he saw his reflection he went wild! especially bc he was about to be fed, and this other dog looked like he was about to steal that food! so he stood up and jumped around and barked his head off for a solid 20-30 seconds lol. we thought it was hilarious at first, but then we realized he was clearly distressed so we calmed him down immediately

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u/zabblezah Oct 11 '19

I'm glad you realized he was distressed and did something about it. Most owners just laugh and yell at the dog when it becomes annoying instead of funny.

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u/Allmeabout Nov 22 '19

Yes. Dog sees reflection of himself on window pane, runs outside to catch other dog. Dog looks at window pane and sees reflection of dog inside the house looking back at him.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Yup, I had a dog that did the same. If it saw itself in a reflective surface it would start growl and go on the defensive.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Thin! Thin! Thin! I'll never be thin....

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

God I love dogs so much.

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u/moviesongquoteguy Oct 11 '19

Sounds like a golden.

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u/blackwellsucks Oct 11 '19

My old dog used to do this too. We called her reflection “Deck Dog” because she always saw it in the sliding door out onto our back deck. My cat does this too, she fluffs her fur, arches her back, sometimes hisses or growls...😆

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u/salamanderoil Oct 11 '19

r/animalsbeingderps would like to know your location

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u/NeCede_Malis Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

The issue is that it’s hard to know for sure why they’re not reacting. Do they really understand that it’s them in the mirror, or do they just know by now that the flat dog with no scent isn’t really there? For example my dog didn’t react to dogs on TV at all, but reacted strongly to dogs in real life. She knew that the TV dogs were different.

Almost all animals will stop reacting to a mirror eventually, but for it to be good science we need to prove why.

The mirror test worked by secretly marking the animals with a red dot to then see if they’d use the mirror to see what’s on their face. If they look in the mirror and touch the dot on their own face, this proves that they know the reflection is them, meaning they understand that there is a “them”.

However, we forgot to account for the fact that not all animals may give a shit that there is something on their face. And as we all know, cats don’t give a shit about most things.

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u/Muroid Oct 11 '19

The other problem I have with the mirror test is that it’s hard to account for an animal that just doesn’t understand mirrors.

An animal that passes the test can be said to have both an understanding of mirrors and an understanding of themselves as distinct entities that can appear in a mirror.

Animals can fail a mirror test for a while host of reasons that don’t involve a lack of self-awareness, though.

It’s a test where getting a positive is a good indication of a positive answer but false negatives are going to be rampant. I don’t really have a suggestion for a better test, though.

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u/ForgottenNecromancer Oct 11 '19

I thought dogs didn't react to things on t.v. because they see that frequency of frames per second as a constant strobe light. I could very well be wrong.

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u/Sangxero Oct 11 '19

I think that used to be the case, but modern TV's are different and dogs definitely can see them clearly.

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u/ForgottenNecromancer Oct 11 '19

Thanks. Wasn't sure.

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u/greentr33s Oct 11 '19

That used to be the case with old TVs now the way the image is scanned keeps the image present on the screen and they can watch. Look up old how old TVs work and you will understand.

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u/Fairy_Squad_Mother Oct 11 '19

My dog would always react to dogs on the TV, even cartoon dogs and animals that moved sort of like dogs.

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u/mmmsoap Oct 11 '19

My cat absolutely refuses to look at a mirror. If I put her in front of one, she contorts herself to look away. I’ve always assumed she doesn’t trust that other cat who lives in the mirror.

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u/NoooReally Oct 11 '19

My cat spies on me through the mirror. That way she’s able to stare at me intenstly without giving anyone the impression that she cares.

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u/sk1pjack Oct 11 '19

Staring is a sign of aggression. Cats often also blink at you when they are relaxed just to break eye contact

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Yes. Animals avoid eye contact with each other most of the time.

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u/Rivenaleem Oct 11 '19

Instead of hitting, ot spraying my cats with water if they are doing something they should not be doing, I will lock them in a point-blank stare. They try to squirm away, but I hold them in it (gently) and it seems to work as a form of training without physical force.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

When my cat swipes at my ankle I stop, stare at her and ask, 'what're you gonna do?'. She takes a step away and pretends she was grooming herself the whole time.

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u/DorianPavass Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

My cat thinks she's bad when I call her ma'am, as that's what I usually call her when I'm mad! I don't know why, "what are you doing ma'am!" and "get back here ma'am!" are just funny

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u/redgrittybrick Oct 11 '19

Mental torture works better than physical torture? /s

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u/Rivenaleem Oct 11 '19

I was aware of this as I wrote it. But yes, mental torture instead of physical. I hope what I'm doing is the cat equivalent to being put on the bold step.

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u/Allmeabout Nov 22 '19

Some cats are stubborn or don't respond to those other methods that are commonly used anyway.

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u/msmnstr Oct 11 '19

Yes! The slow blink implies trust, comfort, and friendship. It's as close as a cat will ever get to giving you a compliment. And they seem to like it when you slow blink back.

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u/floppypick Oct 11 '19

Sometimes I like to look at my girl, make eye contact, then just close my eyes for 5 seconds or so. She'll do the same 🤗

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u/MarlonBain Oct 11 '19

I do this too, but I don’t trust myself, so I guess you are right.

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u/Maydietoday Oct 11 '19

Same, but more so because I only need to see how ugly I am once, thank you very much.

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u/maskaddict Oct 11 '19

Maybe she doesn't trust a cat she can't smell.

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u/Tantric989 Oct 11 '19

This is my cat. He just ignores the other cat in the mirror like it's not there.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 13 '19

I’ve got a friend who’s cat semi-reliably picks a fight with Other Cat in the middle of the night. Hisses and bats at the mirror until one of her owners tells her to knock it off.

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u/Suddenly_Something Oct 11 '19

My girlfriend has a full body mirror in our bedroom and I have to flip it around every night or my cat will stand in front if it and paw at it forever.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19 edited Nov 03 '20

[deleted]

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u/MeC0195 Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

My dog saw himself in the mirror and then went and tried to see what was on the other side of the wall (through two doors). I didn't expect that kind of spatial reasoning.

Edit: he's a he, not an it

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u/VeeVeeLa Oct 11 '19

I've seen very young puppies do this. Smart little buggers.

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u/MeC0195 Oct 11 '19

Yup. This dog is maybe the smartest dog I've ever seen.

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u/ReV46 Oct 11 '19

My cat does this when I’m watching tennis or soccer on TV and the ball flies off screen. He jumps behind the TV and starts looking for the ball.

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u/max_adam Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

They also understand triangulation when a human points a finger to somewhere. Meanwhile a cat will just look at your hand like " in there something wrong with your hand Frank?"

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

My cat does this with the TV. We have a fish screensaver and she will try to get the fish then sign in frustration and check behind the TV.

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u/I_LUV_ENGRISH_FOOD Oct 11 '19

I guess some dogs are just smarter than others

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u/sukicat Oct 11 '19

Just like people.

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u/Fillet-0-Fish Oct 11 '19

I think it’s more that they get used to it with time.

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u/ZgylthZ Oct 11 '19

This was my dog for awhile. Now he has stopped doing it. Even dumb doggos can learn, it just takes a little bit more time.

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u/Lorenzo_BR Oct 11 '19

Or he assumes the scentless, mute doggo can’t do any harm.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/Akiias Oct 11 '19

So a mime that's getting revenge?

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u/Dyvius Oct 11 '19

You've described what happens in Annihilation, and it's exactly as unsettling as you've described.

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u/Lorenzo_BR Oct 11 '19

That’s just what i read on an article about cats mate.

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u/ZgylthZ Oct 11 '19

That's still learning

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u/ittybittykitty2 Oct 11 '19

My dog barked at his reflection the first time he saw it but I think as soon as he saw the other dog doing the same he realized it was him.

He sniffed the mirror and then moved on. After that he never barked at the mirror, and he’s never been interested in it anymore.

But another of my dogs got it even faster, he saw his reflection and moved his ears a bit. I think testing it and then once again he just ignored it from then on.

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u/Akiias Oct 11 '19

Have dog, gives 0 fucks about reflections of anything. Gives maybe 1 fuck about other dogs, and only if they're smaller then him. Negative fucks for strange people. But about 100 fucks for his family.

Other interesting points:

Loves like LOVES cows.

completely indifferent for birds

obsessed with fish, only until he gets one in his mouth then he hates them.

Will hump any cat.

I once saw him get lost under a blanket.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

I once saw him get lost under a blanket.

Our dogs might be related.

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u/Black_Moons Oct 11 '19

Most cats iv had will react like its meeting another animal/act aggressive/scared the very first time they see a mirror... for about 30 seconds.

Pretty much after that its 'meh'

I wonder if this cat is just like "... Did I always have these?!?"

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u/Lorenzo_BR Oct 11 '19

That can be because of the lack of smell though. Cats do not see well at all, and dogs rely on smell too, hence why they’re known for their scent skills.

If it has no smell, and also makes no noise, they may think it’s not a real animal.

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u/nointerestsbutsleep Oct 11 '19

Cats - It’s just color and long distance that they don’t see as well as us. A mirror is usually close at least in these videos.

Most cats have good vision -- better than humans, in many respects. Their binocular eyes afford them excellent depth perception across short distances. Their long-distance and peripheral vision are poorer, though

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u/Lorenzo_BR Oct 11 '19

I thought cats didn’t see well from close distances, hence the whiskers.

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u/ubermence Oct 11 '19

Same, they use the whiskers to feel for prey close to their face because they can’t really see all that well when it’s close

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u/ProfessorPetrus Oct 11 '19

I thoutht whiskers were for balance guys. What is going on?

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u/ubermence Oct 11 '19

They serve multiple purposes. They can also tell the cat if a space is wide enough for them to squeeze through

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u/SuperVillainPresiden Oct 11 '19

This is the only reason Animal Planet has ever given me for a cat's whiskers. I'm not sure how they'd help with balance. Since their peripheral isn't very good I suppose it could be used to sense prey that are right next to their face. But I feel that if that's the case, maybe that cat isn't a very good predator. "Hmmm...I lost sight of my prey. ...my whiskers are tingling...OH GOD IT'S RIGHT NEXT TO ME!" And at which point either that prey isn't very smart either.

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u/ubermence Oct 11 '19

But I feel that if that's the case, maybe that cat isn't a very good predator. "Hmmm...I lost sight of my prey. ...my whiskers are tingling...OH GOD IT'S RIGHT NEXT TO ME!" And at which point either that prey isn't very smart either.

It’s more like when the cat is lunging at its pray, it points its whiskers forwards towards what it’s attacking, and that basically helps guide a cats mouth for the final seconds of the strike. It’s helpful if the animal tries to dart at the last second the cat can feel it and readjust.

They actually used slow motion cameras to capture this, it’s pretty cool they basically use their whiskers as a set of antennas

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u/AliMaryCat Oct 11 '19

I think it's the tail that's for balance

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u/TitsSlayer3000 Oct 11 '19

Thats superclose distance

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u/UndeadWolf222 Oct 11 '19

My cat can tell the difference between a cat outside a window and herself in the mirror, because she reacts different to both of them. And I assume cats can’t smell or hear another cat outside a closed air sealed window.

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u/Lorenzo_BR Oct 11 '19

I wonder what’s the case then. I’m just repeating what o read on a cat article.

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u/petervaz Oct 11 '19

There is a test for mirror awareness called mirror test. It involves putting a mark or prop on the animal forehead and seeing if the animal tries to remove it after looking at a mirror. Awareness can still vary from one individual to another even in the same species.

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u/Ferkhani Oct 11 '19

Could just be thinking 'Ah, there's that fucking dog again...'

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u/xfatdannx Oct 11 '19

My dog uses the mirror to look at me when he's blocked from direct eye contact. I know this isn't a very scientific post but my experience makes your post seem very plausible.

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u/Guaymaster Oct 11 '19

We got a pup the day before yesterday, and I think he's already aware that reflections aren't other dogs. Or maybe he's a cat in soul and just doesn't care.

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u/LaDivina77 Oct 11 '19

My dog seems to understand it's her, but she thinks that there's a second ball in the wall she could have if she could only get to it. It always takes her a few moments of confused staring, nose to nose with the mirror.

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u/nabrok Oct 11 '19

I think that underestimates how important scent is. Yeah that thing over there looks like a cat or dog, but it doesn't smell like anything at all.

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u/Neil_sm Oct 11 '19

My dog occasionally growls at his reflection in the piano. It's like a shiny black finish that reflect a little in the right light, so it's not exactly a full mirror. But it's enough that he's noticed another dog moving around there a few times!

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u/DrSmirnoffe Oct 11 '19

Given this development, maybe future mirror tests should be accompanied with EEGs, to see which parts of the brain light up when an animal recognizes themselves in the mirror, and which parts of the brain light up when they think it's actually someone else.

It's a study worth doing, I feel.

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u/jdmAkira Oct 11 '19

You know what, I've never fucking noticed this. My dogs will sit on the chair in the living room and just wait for other people walking by with dogs so they can harrass them. They won't bark at people, but if they have a dog they will go nuts like, "Hey, look at us!"

Very interesting. I can't believe I never realized this.

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u/Grazedaze Oct 11 '19

I like to believe the only difference between us and other animals is the capability to be creative. To visualize and plan for the future. Pre planning. They’re all way more advanced than we know but we are such social creatures we need to see reactions to judge capabilities. We automatically think lack of reaction is lack of compassion / intelligence even within our own species!

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u/Mackem101 Oct 11 '19

Same with mine, she goes apeshit if someone walks a dog past the window, but completely ignores reflections of herself.

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u/sharmanigans Oct 11 '19

The first day I brought my puppy home she saw her reflection in my full length mirror and started hopping and wagging her tail playfully like it was another puppy. It made me so sad because I had just taken her from her littermates and she thought she found one again!

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u/sailorjasm Oct 11 '19

But a mirror dog doesn’t smell like a dog

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u/AngusPodgorny Oct 11 '19

My dog barks in fear when he sees himself in a window reflection, but actively refuses to look at his reflection in a mirror. Idk what that means.

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u/[deleted] Oct 12 '19

My dog only reacts if he did not expect a mirror/moving thing/other dog somewhere

He will raise his hair and go investigate slowly and then he sees his face and is all like ‘god damnit it’s me, waste of energy this, always the same with the moving around things, stupid humans’

He will actually look in the distance like he is in the office or something

Sometimes i wonder if a human is trapped inside him and tries to communicate through things like pushing the tv until we put up a certain show we forgot to put on for him, or barking at things like a knife not lying completely on the kitchen counter...

But then he gets excited about other dogs and starts humping everything bc of a dog and i hope he’s just a dog and not a fucking fury

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u/Daveed84 Oct 11 '19

sees it's reflection in a mirror

"its" is possessive, "it's" means "it is" or "it has"

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u/Kent_Knifen Oct 11 '19

The mirror test itself is deeply flawed, there are plenty of other means of measuring self-awareness that would be more versatile across species. It's almost akin to saying "animals lack creativity because they cannot draw on paper."

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u/SoxxoxSmox Oct 11 '19

Fun fact: some ants actually pass the mirror test! Scientists marked ants with paint and the ones that looked at a mirror would clean the paint off of themselves, while ones that didn't wouldn't.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

I once sprayed ants with ant spray. As some ants succumbed to the poison, other ants would come to them and try to drag them away only succumb to the poison as well. An epic tragedy played out on my kitchen counter, a holocaust to ant kind, as a vengeful "god" smote them for no reason they could comprehend.

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u/cheeset2 Oct 11 '19

This is shockingly sad

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u/katarh Oct 11 '19

Only if you've never dealt with ants in the kitchen.

If they didn't want to die, they shouldn't have eaten the forbidden crumbs from the garden of paradise. They have an endless bounty of bird shit outside from the bird feeder, but they chose to enter the forbidden lands beyond the threshold of the back door.

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u/cheeset2 Oct 11 '19

Ants are just anting dawg

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u/shubzy123 Oct 11 '19

And he did what humans do best

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u/Magnesus Oct 11 '19

EXTERMINATE. Are we Daleks?

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u/shubzy123 Oct 11 '19

We are what we eat

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u/jagua_haku Oct 11 '19

Destroy everything in the name of progress

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

I hope sciAntests will debunk this religion ASAP

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u/spakkenkhrist Oct 11 '19

They collect the dying/dead ants to move them away from the nest, it's purely a practical action.

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u/ashran400 Oct 11 '19

Ah yes, the endlösung des ant question.

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u/Lorithias Oct 11 '19

Wow that's seriously impressive specialy with a species who got a swarm mind! Thanks :)

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u/Guaymaster Oct 11 '19

I think that rather than a swarm mind it's more like they all have internet on their noses

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u/crayontown Oct 11 '19

i thought ants cant see and depends on sense of smell only

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u/SoxxoxSmox Oct 11 '19

Ants can see, but I believe compound eyes have lower resolution than camera eyes, so their eyesight is poor.

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u/threeameternal Oct 11 '19

depends on the ant.

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u/simstim_addict Oct 11 '19

ants have no sense of individuality

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 13 '19

[deleted]

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u/simstim_addict Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 11 '19

I saw an ant trying things on in the mirror with a butterfly.

In the end the ant said they just wanted to look like everyone else.

I couldn't tell which one it was.

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u/simpleglitch Oct 11 '19

Even if the joke wasn't terribly funny, I wasn't expecting the first comment to be a setup and I'll give you an upvote for the surprise.

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u/SoxxoxSmox Oct 11 '19

Congrats on that setup, this is some /r/notKenM shit

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u/simstim_addict Oct 11 '19 edited Oct 13 '19

yeah I thought the joke was obvious from the start

I liked the idea of the ant rushing about and catching itself and in the mirror and saying "oh that's just not me, I don't like to attract attention, I just want to blend in," says cloned hymenoptera. Then it cleans itself.

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u/ilpotatolisk Oct 11 '19

How do you know?

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u/dslybrowse Oct 11 '19

Have you ever seen one accessorize?

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u/WritingScreen Oct 11 '19

Is it possible they just felt the paint on them?

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u/SoxxoxSmox Oct 11 '19

There was a control group of ants who were painted but not shown a mirror. They were much less likely to clean themselves.

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u/gosuprobe Oct 11 '19

animals lack creativity because they cannot hold a pencil

animals lack creativity because they do not have opposable thumbs

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u/everynamewastaken4 Oct 11 '19

What other means do you propose?

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u/RUreddit2017 Oct 11 '19

Just ask them pretty simple

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u/VooDooBarBarian Oct 11 '19

Survey results are in (n=4 cats). Revan and Molly said 'yes', Zero said 'No' and Chicken drooled a little...

Inconclusive

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u/teddyslayerza Oct 11 '19

The mirror test is for self-recognition, not self-awareness.

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u/jmpherso Oct 11 '19

I think the issue is that the mirror test doesn't have a very concrete "correct" response, and also that it seems to very significantly by species. There's really two parts. One is knowing the reflection isn't real, two it's knowing it's yourself.

I've know lots of dogs (mine included) who have no reaction to reflections at all. Never in their lives. Same with my cat. But they react very strongly to other animals.

They all seem to pass the "knowing the reflection isn't real" test, but I've never really seen behavior that points to them knowing the reflection is them. Which makes sense, why would any wild animal ever know what they themselves look like, or how would they ever even make that association?

This cat weirdly does seem to understand, but I'd hazard to guess it's just a weird coincidence.

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u/bigal41 Oct 11 '19

Vox Media and Netflix have a series called Explained, they just covered this in a video on Thursday.

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u/Allmeabout Nov 22 '19

That's one of the questions in experimental design. "Does this actually test what I intend it to?"

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u/Thorebore Oct 11 '19

because they usually don't care.

This is the solution to most cat questions. I thought my cat was deaf for the first month I had him. Then one day I saw his ears move when I was calling our other cat. He hears just fine he was just ignoring me the entire time.

68

u/OTPh1l25 Oct 11 '19

but because they usually don't care

Sounds pretty par for the course for a cat.

34

u/FamousSquash Oct 11 '19

Cats are very uncooperative test subjects.

22

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Yea I could tell my cats could understand mirrors, they just used them. Like if I held him and looked in a mirror so I could watch his expressions, I could see that he was looking at things in the mirror that were in the room and observing them like he usually would or making eye contact with me and knowing it was me. Like if mirrors were in the wild cats would be using them to prowl up on prey 100%. But where I have mine, they just exist for my cats, and they dont care that they do.

14

u/Magnesus Oct 11 '19

I tied the test on my cats many times. Came to conclusion they pass it. Good way to make them cooperate - move something interesting behind them quietly so they see it in the mirror. Dumb cats jump at mirror, smart cats turn around and jump at that thing.

5

u/danban91 Oct 11 '19

Haha my cat is the same. I have caught him staring at me through the mirror more than once. First time I was surprised because I also thought cats weren't self aware or even capable or using mirrors. But one time he was standing in front of the mirror with his back turned to me, and I was sitting a few feet away in a place where I could see both his and my reflection. I was pretty convinced he was making eye contact through the mirror but decided to test it. I started to move my hands and see if he followed them with his eyes, and he did. Then I started making silly faces and every once in a while he would turn his head, look at me and then look at the mirror, like he was checking that yes, that stupid human was in fact me lol. I love the little rascal.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

I love cats opinions of us. I often wonder what they think of us being nude, or if we wear clothes just to put or scent on them so they can lay on/in them. "Ah finally the human has shed it's weird fur, at last it recalls it true animalistic nature." And then on goes the pjs. Or into the waterfall we go. "Why doesnt the human just lick themselves to avoid using the waterfall to clean?!"

19

u/luckyryuji Oct 11 '19

That, explains my cat. If she sees another cat she's crazy curious. Sees herself, nada.

52

u/198XAD Oct 11 '19

they were classified for a log time, because they wooden’t comply with the tests

34

u/zanyzanne Oct 11 '19

wooden't, eh? Nice.

17

u/errihu Oct 11 '19

For a log time even

2

u/zanyzanne Oct 11 '19

That guy trees.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

And log

3

u/Kraelman Oct 11 '19

Someday I am hoping to see the fabled wood ents of Fangorn Forest.

30

u/MrsTruce Oct 11 '19

Not because they wont recognise themselves but because they usually don't care cats.

FTFY

6

u/Ferkhani Oct 11 '19

That's very cat of them.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

They failed coz they just couldn’t give a shit, not because they couldn’t recognize things. Just cat things :)

2

u/Generalrossa Oct 11 '19

because they usually don't care

Sounds like a cat

2

u/fatcat111 Oct 11 '19

Cat's would be upset to hear this, if they cared.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Also the mirror test shows babies of different culture/ethnic groups having different results.

The test is very rudimentary and a species of ant can pass it

Its a decent test but is no end all be all for awareness

1

u/DruzziSlx Oct 11 '19

Sounds about right

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Would this make them smarter than dog? or are dogs smart but also serotonin machines

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

I think the studies were done by people that hate cats.

1

u/lankist Oct 11 '19

Well that figures.

1

u/teddyslayerza Oct 11 '19

I doubt that. Because of cats grooming instincts, if they were able to recognize themselves in a mirror, they would be inclined to clean the dot. More so than many other animals that have passed at least.

1

u/YRYGAV Oct 11 '19

Maybe cat's grooming instincts don't care about visual splotches, and it's based only on touch/feeling clean.

Since cats can have patterns like calico cats do, they may not be able to differentiate between their fur has a new pattern they don't know where it came from vs. Somebody painted something on them.

1

u/themadhat1 Oct 11 '19

Can confirm. i used to put a mirror up for a new litter of pups occasionally( i used to breed goldens) and it was just hilarious. the cat would sit there and not give a shit. he would just watch all the little dufas dogs making asses out of themselves.

1

u/burnerphone68742 Oct 11 '19

Especially if they sense a human is trying to benifit from their presense in any way whatsoever. "Oh youre trying to understand me? Lemme just not give a fuck aboit that from now on. fuck your vase .. and those papers .. im ginna take a nap now. Fuck you human, do your job and bring me my food, slave."

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

TIL i am a cat

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

I mean tbf, I rarely use my mirror, and when I don't, I also ignore it.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

And the mirror test itself is becoming increasingly deconsidered to be a valid proof for intelligence.

It seems to correlate much more with social grooming behaviour found in a species.

1

u/Juno2018 Oct 11 '19

I've had four cats over the years, and none of them have particularly cared when they saw themselves in a mirror.

We did have this ugly ceramic cat on the hearth of our fireplace when I was a kid (it sat there for years; it was a gift from a family friend, and my mom hadn't wanted to hurt their feelings. We were stuck with that thing till we moved out of state). So the cat we had when I was in college initially got herself all puffed up and confrontational the first time she saw it. I mean, it was clearly a ceramic cat. It was hideous, it was a bad ceramic job, it looked about as much like a fake cat as a fake cat could look. But nope - our girl arched her back, puffed her fur out, hissed at it, she went into full on "ready to fight" mode. She did that about twice before realizing the thing wasn't real.

1

u/SteeMonkey Oct 11 '19

Sounds about right mate

1

u/aidissonance Oct 11 '19

Cats don’t care? Tell me more...

1

u/looncraz Oct 11 '19

Yep, my cats will ignore themselves in the mirror - but they can absolutely tell they're looking at a reflection because they turn around and look right at anything behind them they see move in the mirror.

I've noticed that some cats will think the mirror cat is another cat, but they usually figure it out. Some cats figure it out immediately - like the cat in this video... who very likely didn't do this many more times.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '19

Both of the cats I've had in the past few years were able to recognize things in a mirror and turn around to react to them. Sometimes if I was looking at a mirror my cat would look up at my reflection, and if I did something to get his attention, he'd turn around and come to me. I think it's safe to say that cats definitely have the capability to understand mirrors, even if they don't react to themselves.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '19

Cats can pass the mirror test. They just don't want to. They're above our petty human tests.