3 ms·

I've had many cats over the years. They absolutely do understand reflections. I've watched them learning it in real time. Kittens will often try to get behind t

by jsz0 5y ago

I've had many cats over the years. They absolutely do understand reflections. I've watched them learning it in real time. Kittens will often try to get behind the mirror, play with the reflection, etc and over time most of them learn it's a reflection or at least not another cat and lose interest. I've frequently seen cats spot movement behind them in a mirror and turn around to investigate further. Makes perfect sense to me considering animals have been seeing their reflections in water for millions of years. It's not like they just recently learned what a reflection is.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
> Makes perfect sense to me considering animals have been seeing their reflections in water for millions of years. It's not like they just recently learned what a reflection is. I suppose. But I think this point is in danger of being overstated. Mostly animals don't see their own reflections in water; they certainly see others' reflections in water. But when you're close enough up to see a full reflection of your face in water, what you largely see is a shadow. Yes, the shadow has a reflection in it, but I suspect that is quickly disregarded without much contemplation of what it means. Mirrors are another matter entirely. You can really interrogate a mirror by seeing your own reflection at considerable distance, which is usually not possible with water. Plus you can do so at leisure, because you are not necessarily prone at that point, whereas a cat at the waterline is at risk of attack. So I don't know if, in the scheme of things, much about reflection has had a significant impact, until the mirror. Edit to add: the fact that some intelligent birds are able to pass the mirror dot test might make sense in this concept of how easy a reflection is to comprehend. Birds have after all had millions of years of opportunities to interrogate their reflection in water at different heights, and to see a much clearer and more complete image of their own reflection. For a bird, still water really could be a mirror.

by jsz0 5y ago

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

> Makes perfect sense to me considering animals have been seeing their reflections in water for millions of years. It's not like they just recently learned what a reflection is. I suppose. But I think this point is in danger of being overstated. Mostly animals don't see their own reflections in water; they certainly see others' reflections in water. But when you're close enough up to see a full reflection of your face in water, what you largely see is a shadow. Yes, the shadow has a reflection in it, but I suspect that is quickly disregarded without much contemplation of what it means. Mirrors are another matter entirely. You can really interrogate a mirror by seeing your own reflection at considerable distance, which is usually not possible with water. Plus you can do so at leisure, because you are not necessarily prone at that point, whereas a cat at the waterline is at risk of attack. So I don't know if, in the scheme of things, much about reflection has had a significant impact, until the mirror. Edit to add: the fact that some intelligent birds are able to pass the mirror dot test might make sense in this concept of how easy a reflection is to comprehend. Birds have after all had millions of years of opportunities to interrogate their reflection in water at different heights, and to see a much clearer and more complete image of their own reflection. For a bird, still water really could be a mirror.