Cat Behavior, Cat Questions, Cats

Are Cats Self Aware?

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Did you ever saw your cat looking in a mirror and gazing upon herself? Do you think that cats are self-aware?

Most of the people will answer no. Humans always look in the mirror to admire themselves, but that’s only a human thing. Cats don’t do such kind of a thing. But it is still a fascinating question and how can we come to a conclusion without even analyzing the possibilities and behavior of the cats. But at first, we must learn a few things regarding self-awareness too.

 

What is Self Awareness?

The simple definition of Self Awareness is the knowledge of the animals regarding their own character and feelings. If an animal can identify themselves in their reflection, then it can be said that they have a level of self-awareness. As each and every animal has a different level of self-awareness, the results can be carried out by several tests.

 

How is Self Awareness identified?

The Mirror test is the simplest method to identify whether a species have self-awareness or not. As it is quite apparent that humans can identify their image and have an in-depth knowledge of character, feelings, and desires, we expect that the other life forms are capable of doing that too. But that can’t be said for sure unless we carry out the mirror test.

Lucky enough for us, many scientist and researchers have already carried out various tests to determine this. This is a very controversial test that was developed a long time ago. Scientifically, this is the best self-awareness test for all animals to look for signs if they recognize themselves or not. The bar of knowledge is already low for the animal kingdom because we think them it is nearly impossible to interpret and measure what animals think and feel. We can only observe them under various conditions and draw out the conclusion.

 

Mirror Test

Even though every animal has a vast knowledge of the surrounding and the behavior of its enemies and preys, it is quite a disappointment when they fail the mirror test. The mirror test is very effective, but it is not 100% true. In this test, the animals are put in front of mirrors to see their reflection, and their reaction is observed keenly. Then again they are put in front of the mirror by placing some kind of mark or spot on them to see if they try to remove it.

Usually, the animals that are self-aware stare into their reflection and adjust their body to have a better view. If they see an unusual spot, they also try to remove it deliberately. But unluckily this can’t be said for the Cats.

 

How Cats reacted to the Mirror Test?

We often come around videos of cats looking into their own reflection in the mirror. They are screaming at it as if it is another rival cat that has come to abduct its territory. There are countless videos like this on the internet but how can we tell if they all mean the same thing. We can’t, so the scientists carried out various experiments and made the cats look in the mirror and observe their behavior.

Such kind of experiments are being done on cats for years and not even once they have demonstrated that they a little bit sense of themselves at all. Most of the cats ignored the reflection, some tried to investigate behind the mirror to see if there is indeed another cat and some of the cats acted out aggressively. To be true, it can be really freaky if you can’t recognize your own image in the mirror. But the same thing happens to human’s babies. They can’t identify their image in the mirror until they reach a specific age group. The gestures posed by the cats during the mirror test are merely the way they would try to counteract the other cat.

 

How Can a Cat be Made Self Aware?

Whatever be the results of the mirror test, some scientists still believe that animals can be made self-aware. And this fact applies to all of them. They have an ipso facto rule that if you train your cat and make a habit of looking herself in the mirror daily. She will gradually start recognizing herself and may be starting to groom herself looking in it too.

It is quite apparent that if you made any living being to look in the mirror the first time. They would react differently. Many animals like chimpanzees, gorillas, dolphins are very well known for their self-awareness capabilities, but that doesn’t signify that they are more intelligent than the rest of the animals. Any animals can gain and lose the ability to be conscious of them.

 

Story

I have seen many funny videos of cats getting scared by looking into their reflection in the mirror. I never found them funny, but it raised a question in my mind. Do cats really have no idea how they look and don’t have any self-awareness? I was doubtful about the possible method that is often used to determine this. So, I decided why not I try it out on my cat. My cat is usually very naughty and gets angry easily, so I was a little bit afraid. But when I put her in front of the mirror, she didn’t react. She gazed for a minute in the reflection and turned away from the mirror.

In the videos, I saw most of the cats getting scared from their own image. But my cat didn’t do anything like that. Notably, she didn’t saw her own image as another cat.

 

Conclusion

So, now you know that although the scientist claim that Cats have none so ever any idea of their characteristics, exceptions are always there. And as we don’t really know what is going on in their mind. We surely can’t decide it for them whether they have self-awareness or not.

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