I've continually thought that tests like the mirror test were inadequate at telling us whether or not an animal has some subjective self-awareness or internal thought outside of survival; or equally, that it means anything significant. It seems to me that each animal has a particular set of thoughts that govern their actions which are brought about by their genetics and environment.

Similarly, I've seen people close to me point out that dogs engage in empathetic group behavior while it seems some fish do not. But that seems like a silly line to draw on their value. After all, there are many traits that animals of different species posses that we do not. Yet, we do not put them on some pedestal of worth because of that. For example, the banded archer fish is capable of performing calculations to arch a stream of water to hunt flying insects above water. Meanwhile, my dog struggles to catch a treat falling towards his mouth.

Maybe, it could be argued, that certain very low thinking animals such bivalves are indeed not worthy of consideration. Not because they lack subjective features like empathy, self-awareness, etc, but because they lack thinking at all - like a group of individual organs communicating without a central thought collector to organize it - unlike most other animals. It is possible that new evidence will come out about specific neural capacity for bivalves, but for now, I am about as convinced as I am for most plants and fungi.

[–] Favor@beehaw.org 5 points 2 years ago

Mirror tests we're now realizing are also very biased towards human perception and cognition, at least as they've historically been conducted.

A dog won't pass a visual mirror test for example, but they have zero issue with a scent based one.

Other times it may come down to more complex personal factors we're not yet fully able to understand. In the one test I was able to find involving Asian Elephants they tested 3 different elephants all from the same group/enclosure at the Bronx zoo. Only one of the 3 that were involved passed the test, but she passed it without leaving any room for doubt.

The fish in the article, cleaner wrasse, have specifically evolved to recognize colors or shapes that are out of place as that's how they identify the parasites they consume. Logically it makes sense they'd be better adapted to pass a visual mirror test than most animals.

If a small and otherwise unremarkable fish is able to pass the mirror test when conducted in a manner that coincides with how it has evolved to perceive the world then I don't have any trouble believing it's entirely possible many animals are capable of passing it. It's likely more a matter of how it's conducted, with the need for dedicated tests factoring in the animal's capabilities being the critical factor. If you think about it, if you were abducted by aliens and they had you try to identify yourself in a mirror that reflected infrared radiation, the spectrum they saw and perceived in, then you would fail too.

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