Penguins Added to the List of Self-Aware Animals After Passing the Mirror Test

Penguins are the newest addition to the short list of self-aware animals after passing a test. MailOnline reported that scientists conducted mirror tests on a dozen Adélie penguins in East Antarctica and discovered that the flightless birds recognized themselves in two of three studies.

They built a cardboard corral around some of the penguins to drive them toward mirrors at the ends of an enclosure and placed stickers on the mirror to see if the animal noticed they are looking at their reflection. The failed test had mirrors set on the ground to test whether a penguin would come up to it, but experts explained it is expected since the animals assume they are seeing another penguin in the mirror.

(Photo : ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
An Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) enjoys the water in a recreated antarctic environment -where some chicks had been born- in the zoo of Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico on January 17, 2018.

The Mirror Test

In 1970, American psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr., devised the mirror test to determine whether animals have the ability to recognize their own faces. Since then, it was used to demonstrate that cetaceans, primates, and elephants, as well as several birds and fish, have self-awareness.

Previous studies have shown that self-awareness is not a common trait in the animal kingdom, Phys.org reported. Until now, only a few mammals, some birds, and fish are proven to be self-aware.

Whereas humans have self-awareness, it might take time for animals to learn it. Numerous researchers have been looking for it using the mirror test, which examines animals whether could see themselves in the mirror or not while researchers record their reactions.

Self-awareness involves subjects recognizing something about themselves that reflects them, such as touching a red mark on their face while looking at a mirror. The researchers of the new study on penguins wondered if these flightless birds might also have innate self-awareness.

The team ventured to eastern Antarctica in Svenner Island to observe the behavior of Adélie penguins and how they would respond to images of themselves in mirrors. Their experiment involved three mirror tests in which the penguins passed two out of them.

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Testing the Self-Awareness of Penguins

The mirror self-recognition (MSR) test on the penguins took a slightly different approach. According to Hakai Magazine, researchers worked on wild penguins instead of captive ones so they had to make some modifications to the method to minimize causing distress for the birds.

The first trial involves setting up a mirror in the path of a flock of penguins and researchers waited for the birds to approach it on their own. Many penguins approached the mirror and examined their reflections without touching them.

The next two sets of experiments had individual penguins exposed to mirrors under a more constrained condition. Researchers put up cardboard structures to corral each test penguin and directed the bird's attention to two mirrors placed at the ends of the enclosure. Then they showed the penguin a mirror with a round sticker at the head level. Finally, they put a bib around the penguin to serve as the mark.

The results are ambiguous since penguins carefully inspected their reflections but remained motionless. When in the corraled setting, they moved and gestured in ways that imply they are examining themselves. None of the experiments showed the penguins were being aggressive or fearful of the reflection, which suggests they were examining themselves

On the other hand, they became slightly agitated by the stickered mirrors as they pecked at the stickers as if trying to remove them. But they made no effort in removing the bibs, confusing the scientists. Most animals that passed the MSR test removed the mark on their body, but penguins only ignored the bibs.

Despite its ambiguity, researchers noted that their findings suggest the penguins exhibited some degree of self-awareness. They discuss their findings in full in the study, titled "Possible Self-awareness in Wild Adélie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae," available in bioRxiv.

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Check out more news and information on Penguins in Science Times.