Western children first show signs of mirror self-recognition (MSR) from 18 to 24 months of age, the benchmark index of emerging self-concept. Such signs include self-oriented behaviors while looking at the mirror to touch or remove a mark surreptitiously placed on the child’s face. The authors attempted to replicate this finding across cultures using a simplified version of the classic “mark test.” In Experiment 1, Kenyan children (N = 82, 18 to 72 months old) display a pronounced absence of spontaneous self-oriented behaviors toward the mark.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28542778)

and some ants: http://www.journalofscience.net/File_Folder/521-532%28jos%29.pdf

reminder that the tallest artificial structures in precolonial Subsaharan Afreaka were built by termites

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28542823)

In front of a mirror, and consequently of their reflection view, ants behaved otherwise than when in front of nestmates seen through a glass. Seeing nestmates through a glass, ants behaved as usual, i.e. without taking close notice of them. In front of a mirror, they rapidly moved their head and antennae, to the right and the left, touched the mirror, went away from it and stopped, cleaning then sometimes their legs and antennae. As long as they could not see themselves in a mirror, ants with a blue dot painted on their clypeus did not try to remove it. Set in front of a mirror, ants with such a blue dot on their clypeus tried to clean themselves, while ants with a brown painted dot - of the same color as that of their cuticle - on their clypeus and ants with a blue dot on their occiput did not clean themselves. Very young ants did not present such behavior. Contrary to the other kinds of marking, a blue dot on the clypeus induced aggressiveness in nestmates. The front part of the head is thus an essential species specific character for leading to acceptance. Although further experiments are required, preferentially on ants and social hymenoptera with an excellent visual perception, our observations suggest that some ants can recognize themselves when confronted with their reflection view, this potential ability not necessary implicating some self awareness.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28543777)

I think there is a different level of understanding between knowing the thing in the mirror is not real and actually understanding that it is your reflection and using it to see how you look.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28551600)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungbo%27s_Eredo (20 meters)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe (Conical Tower)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#30951129)

In college I found a bunch of dead ants inside my freezer trying to make their way to my peanut butter pot cookies.

It was crazy because there was a little trail of them and a few had gotten on top of a frozen TV dinner almost making it to the cookies. So close.

I saw the one little ant dude who made it the furthest. I wrote a short story about him.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#32600454)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#34724433)

But when Broesch tried the mark mirror test outside the U.S. and Canada, she got some strange results. In Kenya, for instance, only two out of 82 children, some as old as six, passed. But the kids who did not pass were not psychologically damaged or lacking empathy [sic?]. And most displayed what Broesch calls "freezing" behavior—the children did not greet or smile at their reflection. Instead, they stood still and seemed deeply uncomfortable."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kids-and-animals-who-fail-classic-mirror/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28548138)

I would be interested to see if a child in the U.S. in that IQ range would pass the test. I bet they wouldn't.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28548336)

Therefore, mirrors are racist.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28548951)

2. thread title is great but wish a different avifauna had been chosen

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28553578)

already best of the best of xoxo.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28552966)

let that sink in.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28553399)

The authors attempted to replicate this finding across cultures using a simplified version of the classic “mark test.” In Experiment 1, Kenyan children (N = 82, 18 to 72 months old) display a pronounced absence of spontaneous self-oriented behaviors toward the mark. In Experiment 2, the authors tested children in Fiji, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Peru (N = 133, 36 to 55 months old), as well as children from urban United States and rural Canada. As expected from existing reports, a majority of the Canadian and American children demonstrate spontaneous self-oriented behaviors toward the mark. However, markedly fewer children from the non-Western rural sites demonstrate such behaviors. These results suggest that there are profound cross-cultural differences in the meaning of the MSR test, questioning the validity of the mark test as a universal index of self-concept in children’s development, and concluding that lemurs are smarter than human pieces of shit.

http://jcc.sagepub.com/content/42/6/1018.abstract

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#28560013)

"In contrast, research with humans suggests that children’s relative familiarity with mirrors, which greatly varies across contexts, does not correlate with the age at which the mark test is passed (Priel & deSchonen, 1986). Priel and deShonen (1986) tested Bedouin nomadic children with no previous mirror experience and compared them to same-age Israeli children familiar with mirrors. They found no significant difference in the developmental onset of MSR between mirror familiar and unfamiliar children."

http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~henrich/pdfs/CULTURALMIRROR-Rev6-10-30-2009.pdf

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#31917354)

"Are they mad?" Herzog wonders. But perhaps one were to reply in the words of Roethke: "What is madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance?"

What do the mad penguins know that their penguin bros do not? None of us choose to be born - we all end up here. And yet when we humans examine our lives, our autobiography only dimly sketches our own hominization. What if instead, there were one blindingly clear moment of illumination, where our existence, ourselves were revealed to us in complete clarity? What if one were to suddenly, without pause, realize that one *is?*

Yes, you might suppose that such a moment would lead you to a spiritual awakening. But what if instead the shock leads you to madness?

In other words: are the mad penguins running to, or are they running away?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2962372&forum_id=2#32603567)