Contrary to Belief, Monkeys Do Have Self-Awareness In Mirrors

GreenTracker| Until now, scientists studying self-awareness in humans and primates have maintained a “cognitive divide”  between humans and chimps, and all other primates species. A new study published Sept. 29 in PLoS ONE by Luis Populin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues “shows that under specific conditions, a rhesus macaque monkey that normally would fail the mark test can still recognize itself in the mirror and perform actions that scientists would expect from animals that are self-aware.”

We’re chuckling reading that the monkeys were totally fascinated with examining their genitals in the mirror, which is classic bonobo behavior.

Ready to reject the “cognitive divide” theory, scientists argue that it’s possible that self-awareness operates on a continuum and that perhaps some primates are more self-aware than others. Read on at Science Daily.