- Reaction score
- 1,680
Controversial new research shows that a tiny, unsuspecting species of fish can pass a test that’s widely considered the gold standard of intelligence. As far as we can tell, only a few of the most intelligent non-human animals pass this mirror self-recognition test: great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans), bottlenose dolphins, and Asian elephants, and a handful of others. In light of the unexpected new findings, some researchers are arguing it’s time for scientists to rethink how they test animal intelligence.
In a paper published Thursday in the journal PLOS Biology, an international team of researchers led by Masanori Kohda, Ph.D., a professor specializing in fish behavior at Osaka City University, outlines how the cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) shows signs of self-recognition while looking in a mirror. In doing so, the fish, known for its ability to live off of the parasites it cleans off of other fish, appears to pass the test for “mirror self-recognition” — long considered a hallmark of self-awareness in animals.
Whether it means the cleaner wrasse is self-aware — or that this is a really bad test of self-awareness — is now up for debate.
Read more here. (Inverse)
In a paper published Thursday in the journal PLOS Biology, an international team of researchers led by Masanori Kohda, Ph.D., a professor specializing in fish behavior at Osaka City University, outlines how the cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) shows signs of self-recognition while looking in a mirror. In doing so, the fish, known for its ability to live off of the parasites it cleans off of other fish, appears to pass the test for “mirror self-recognition” — long considered a hallmark of self-awareness in animals.
Whether it means the cleaner wrasse is self-aware — or that this is a really bad test of self-awareness — is now up for debate.
Read more here. (Inverse)
