Big Cat + Mirror = Funny (VIDEO)

Florida’s Big Cat Rescue’s latest great video tests the feline reaction to seeing themselves in a mirror.

The sanctuary says that their cats spend a lot of time ‘making themselves look good,’ so they wanted to show them the results.

Putting a mirror by their enclosures produced a wide range of reactions, from indifference to some cats trying to reach the ‘cat in the mirror,’ while others ran away.

The cats aren’t seeing themselves as they are, among the animals which fail the ‘mirror test,’ an experiment which many scientists believe shows self-awareness. Big apes, elephants, dolphins and magpies pass the test. Babies (human) pass it at around 18 months old. But vision is not the primary sense for cats — smell and hearing are more important, so what they ‘see’ in a mirror is very far from what we humans do.

Big Cat Rescue says that it’s the world’s largest sanctuary for abandoned and rescued big cats and hosts more than a hundred (including some not so big ones) at its center in Tampa.

Big Cat Week

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Read more: animal video, cats, florida, funny, sanctuary, video

Image: Video screengrab

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federico b.

9:24AM PDT on Jul 26, 2012

Grazie per l'articolo.

July 26
send a green star

Debbie C.

6:30AM PDT on Jun 8, 2012

Very cool video of some beautiful cats!!

June 8
send a green star

Carrie-Anne B.

5:27AM PDT on Apr 5, 2012

great article, thanks for sharing :)

April 5
send a green star

Lynne B.

11:31PM PDT on Mar 31, 2012

I liked this post. Some of the cats did think that a stranger had turned up in camp, others were curious. It seemed the bigger the cat the more aggressively they approached the mirror. No harm done, a little stimulation is perhaps a boring day.