Cats don’t understand mirrors
Are cats self-aware?
The eternal question as to whether cats are self-aware is asked again in this compilation of short videos of cats looking at their reflections in mirrors. And they are not. If they were they’d understand mirrors and recognise themselves in the reflection. Well, that’s the theory. They see another cat and go around the edge of the mirror thinking the cat (herself) will be there. It is cute to see but a bit of shame because they become confused. The concept of reflections creating an image is not in their repertoire of possibles.
Cats vs mirrors 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/rCS37LQCTi
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) December 5, 2018
In one session the cat is a bathroom and he/she raises a paw to see the reflection. It looks like human behavior. You wonder if she is checking if she is looking at a reflection. If so she is self-aware. However, the general consensus among the experts is that there is no evidence to support the view that cats are self-aware.