Elephant painting.

[wsmith]

Interesting implications on self-awareness if true.

Comments

[alonewiththemoon]

I was going to repeat what Julishka said about it being a trained act, not a spontaneous act of self-awareness. That said, though, I read an article recently (of course, I don't remember where) that said we are really having to re-examine our assumptions about animals' self-awareness. One experiment I remember from the article was that researchers kept dolphins in a tank with a mirror. They painted spots on the dolphins' heads, and when a dolphin saw its reflection, it would peer at itself and then go try to rub off the spot on something, checking again to see if it had been successful. It had been widely accepted wisdom that animals don't understand reflections, but clearly the dolphins not only understood it, but understood how to use the phenomenon as well.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

do they go up to each other after eating a tasty fish and say eeEEeeE EEEee EE EE EEEEeeeEE? (translation: do i have anything in my teeth?)

hehe.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Elephants can do that too. Self-awareness is a tricksy thing.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

Aaaaa the cuteness!