- cross-posted to:
- science
- cross-posted to:
- science
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
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I’ve done similar experiments with my two cats. Both behaved mostly like dogs - the mirror doesn’t smell like a cat nor makes noise like a cat, so why bother with it? I was rather surprised with Siegfrieda ignoring it because she tends to watch whatever I put on the computer screen, be it some “cat game” video or even anime.
That lower emphasis on vision became specially obvious when I showed them videos with kittens meowing. They didn’t bother with the screen, but with the speakers.
I’m surprised that ants visually recognize themselves! I thought they didn’t have great vision and relied on the sense of smell.
Maybe they can recognize their own pheremone “reflecting” and its not so much visual.
In the article they summarize how the experiments specifically demonstrated that this is a visual response.
Researchers put blue dots on the ants’ heads in a spot where they can see it in a mirror. Apparently the ants tried to remove the dot from themselves, but only if they saw the dot on their head when looking into the mirror.
Otherwise, if they weren’t in front of the mirror or the blue spot was placed on the back of their head where it’s not visible in the mirror, they did not react to it. Similarly, when they used a brown ant-colored dot to mark the ants in a spot where they can see it in a mirror, the ants did not try to remove it from themselves, presumably because they couldn’t see it.
Granted, it’s easy to see why we should be skeptical about these results, but it also would not be the first time that we’ve discovered remarkable things about insects.
Keep in mind though, ants are an incredibly large and diverse group of insects, so this type of research obviously can’t be assumed to apply to all ants and all ant species. Even with the other animals discussed, it’s usually a case where only some individuals can pass the test, and it’s not necessarily a near universal thing for them like it is with humans. And I’m not really in a position to evaluate how reputable the authors, journal, and experiment are.
I’m surprised as well.
Something to consider is that ants are a very large and diverse group of insects. Different species will have differing visual acuity, and you wouldn’t be able to conclude that all ant species would pass this test just because they found one/some that pass it.
I also have to wonder if the idea that ants don’t have great vision ignores the scale of things and the vast differences in the structure of their eyes compared to ours? Maybe they see small things up close really well, but have poor vision for things that are more on a human scale, like seeing a boat sailing against the horizon while you’re sitting on the shore? Would you even notice if the ants in your backyard started wearing eyeliner?
