How do black bears respond to mirrors?
Self awareness is a measure of intelligence. A captive chimpanzee reportedly sat in front of a mirror in a cage and eventually touched a dot on its forehead, showing that it realized the reflection was of itself.
Unlike caged chimps, wild bears see their reflections whenever they drink from quiet ponds; so mirrors don’t get much notice. In the top photo, a bear briefly noted his reflection as he passed by. In the bottom photo, the two bears paused to give the mirror a brief sniff. One looked behind it.
All three looked at their reflections calmly with none of the
tension in their eyes, ears, muzzles, and lips one sees in meetings
between strange bears. The clear, vertical reflections apparently
differed enough from reflections in water to be noticed.
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