Self Awareness

Why are some animals self aware and others not? What is self awareness? Which animals are self aware?

There is virtually no understanding of this topic and the ramifications are rather important to humans.

Some primates, elephants, some whales and some dolphins are considered to be self-aware and you may ask why should we take any notice?

Well being self aware means that an animal passes the mirror test. This is designed to show that an animal recognises itself instead of believing that the image is that of another animal. It may sound like a crude test but it does show that certain species have a level of intelligence beyond that which we accept.

In 2007 an American lawyer Steven Wise founded the Non-Human Rights Project (NhRP) and in 2013 he sought to change the status of animals that were self-aware from property to persons. This in effect would have meant that none of these animals could be kept in cages, all whales and dolphins in captivity would have to be released along with elephants and primates. In reality, it meant that all animals of these species in captivity must be moved where possible to a sanctuary providing them with a natural lifestyle or released where possible into the wild but even more importantly none of these animals could ever be captured again.

The legal case was turned into a documentary called Unlocking the Cage released in 2016 and whilst the case was lost it prompted calls for a greater understanding of animal rights.
There have been suggestions that keeping these animals in captivity for commercial gain contravenes anti-slavery legislation.

After all of an animal is aware that what is happening is unnatural and the animal is caused distress…..

Now I have no doubt that this type of legislation won’t pass in my lifetime but in the lifetime of some of the younger readers, it could happen.

Before anybody says “No way” think about the progress that I have seen, the introduction of the assistance dog, behaviourism, extended roles in the military and police, their use by fire brigades, therapy dogs, opposition to the wearing of fur, legislation on animal welfare, the advent of the microchip, animals are rarely kept in cages even in zoos, safari parks provide a more natural habitat but most of all, we as a species have developed a far greater understanding of intelligence that abounds in the animal kingdom and who knows how many more animals will be found to be self-aware.

What’s more, how much can we learn from the animals that we subjugate?