Overview
- A PLOS One paper publishes a reanalysis of videotapes from mirror experiments on four belugas that found mirror-directed and self-directed behaviors consistent with mirror self-recognition, with one individual meeting the formal mark-test criteria.
- The mirror test asks whether an animal will use a reflection to inspect a mark placed on its body that it could not otherwise see, and researchers say Natasha oriented the marked area toward the mirror and showed a range of self-directed actions.
- The experiments were run more than two decades ago at the New York Aquarium, the original videotapes were digitized for analysis, and setups included one-way and two-way plexiglass viewing surfaces plus staged mark tests and behavioral scoring.
- Results varied by individual: Maris and others showed suggestive mirror-directed behaviors like bubble-biting and barrel-rolling but did not pass the full mark test, and the authors emphasize the study’s small captive sample limits broad generalization.
- The team warns that reflective viewing windows and prior exposure to mirrors may have influenced the belugas’ behavior and urges larger, controlled studies and field work to confirm findings and inform conservation policy.