- Joined
- Nov 20, 2002
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- 1,073
I'm posting this to the Physiology and Biology Forum because there doesn't seem to be a specific forum for behavior and psychology.
On a recent nature show -- whose name I unfortunately don't recall -- I saw a mind-blowing example of cephalopod intelligence. A diver made a few visits to a GPO in the area of her sea-floor den (I believe it was a female), and decided to try a psychological experiment. He brought down a large mirror, and when the GPO approached him, he showed her the mirror.
Having seen a nature show in which a male Cuttlefish made escalating aggression displays to his image in a mirror (thinking it was another male), I fully expected the GPO to react to her reflection as if it were another GPO.... as did the diver.
We were both wrong. After reaching out to the mirror and touching it briefly, the GPO actually extended her arms around the mirror and began to explore behind it, as if she knew full well that this was some sort of artificial device rather than another GPO!
This freaked me out completely. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know even dogs and cats react to their reflections as if they are other individuals of the same species. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the only other species who recognize their reflections as reflections are great apes and dolphins.
Has anyone else here seen the nature show I refer to, or might be familiar with this experiment on a GPO? If so, do you think this experiment implies that the GPO may be intellectually superior to most mammals in the specific case of mirror-reflection recognition?
Still amazed by this footage....
Tani
On a recent nature show -- whose name I unfortunately don't recall -- I saw a mind-blowing example of cephalopod intelligence. A diver made a few visits to a GPO in the area of her sea-floor den (I believe it was a female), and decided to try a psychological experiment. He brought down a large mirror, and when the GPO approached him, he showed her the mirror.
Having seen a nature show in which a male Cuttlefish made escalating aggression displays to his image in a mirror (thinking it was another male), I fully expected the GPO to react to her reflection as if it were another GPO.... as did the diver.
We were both wrong. After reaching out to the mirror and touching it briefly, the GPO actually extended her arms around the mirror and began to explore behind it, as if she knew full well that this was some sort of artificial device rather than another GPO!
This freaked me out completely. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know even dogs and cats react to their reflections as if they are other individuals of the same species. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the only other species who recognize their reflections as reflections are great apes and dolphins.
Has anyone else here seen the nature show I refer to, or might be familiar with this experiment on a GPO? If so, do you think this experiment implies that the GPO may be intellectually superior to most mammals in the specific case of mirror-reflection recognition?
Still amazed by this footage....
Tani