In the mirror test, a spot is placed on an animal’s forehead. When the animal sees itself in a mirror, if it tries to remove the spot the animal is considered to be self-aware. The list of animals that have passed the test is surprisingly small:
- bottlenose dolphins
- Asian elephants (but not African)
- orangutans
- chimpanzees
- humans > 18 months old
From a review of Douglas Hofstadter’s I am a Strange Loop
There’s a good summary of the elephant testing at Not Exactly Rocket Science.
