- Dogs evolved to communicate through scent, and smell is "more important for dogs than a visual recognition of 'self,'"
- Some zoos have used mirrors to trigger mating and nest building among flamingos, which breed only when they perceive their colonies are of a certain size, she said
Also, my dog used to freak out every single time he saw his own reflection. I think he's used to mirrors now but we have to pull the shades on our glass doors at night so that he doesn't panic. Kind of interesting how the doors/windows and mirrors have a different effect on him.
My dog does not react to mirrors or reflections of herself but she reacts when she sees other people. I find that very interesting.
Why, because it's dishonest? Zoos set up the animals' whole environments to deceive them into feeling at home and I'm 100% okay with that.I find this somewhat troubling...I feel as though we shouldn't manipulate an animal's comfort in an environment...any thoughts?
I get that they want to make the animals feel at home (and I'm 100% supportive of that too) but at first glance that line made it seem as though that was the only effort made to make a very small space with few flamingos feel like a big space with lots of them. I realize that that is not quite the case, but I feel like deceiving the animals in terms of population numbers could end pretty badly in terms of the animals' mental state. Zoos have always made me uncomfortable....
Hm. I see how the mirror might be confusing and stressful for them, but they could also be happier with it than not -- they naturally live in enormous numbers most zoos couldn't reasonably replicate, and according to this article they can't tell the mirror from a whole lot of other flamingos. Hopefully their handlers would be able to tell if it were causing them distress.
Interesting thing to consider. As a child we had a fish tank and in it, a Siamese Fighting Fish. If you held up a mirror to the tank, it would flare it's fins and charge at it. They're very aggressive towards fellow males. In fact, if you were to put a mirror in the tank it would likely die from exhaustion, due to a never ending garage of attacks. I have a one year old and we spend a lot of time these days waiving "hello" and "goodbye" at his reflection. I look forward to when he realizes he is waiving to himself.
According to this, around 20 months or so is when babies realise "that's me" http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/05/when-self-emerges-is-that-me-in-mirror.php
It's interesting how a child passes through a stage of withdrawal between "another baby!" and "it's me!" My parents have told me that I was terrified of the full-length mirror in their bedroom for quite a long time, so this self-conscious withdrawal makes sense.