DO CATS RECOGNIZE IN THE MIRROR?
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Who hasn't happened to observe the funny reactions of our friends in front of a mirror?
There are those who ignore their own reflected image, there are those who fear it and run away, there are those who play with it and those who attack it. On Youtube you can find videos of:
"Hilarious cats in the mirror" which show the most unexpected reactions of our cats in front of the mirror.
But do cats learn to recognize themselves in the mirror?
Discovery often requires several steps, one of which is when the animal repeats some movements in front of the mirror to try to understand the relationship between its gesture and what the subject is doing in the mirror.
In the final phase, some animals - such as dolphins and elephants - seem to want to observe in the mirror some parts of the body that are difficult to see if not reflected. Some elephants touched the mirror with their tongues and looked into the inside of their mouth.
Cats don't have this ability.
Cats placed in front of a mirror are initially curious or frightened. Then they reassure themselves realizing that the image in the mirror is not a danger for them). They can play with the reflected image or ignore it but do not identify it with their own.