For many years, there was no debate about the superiority of humans over the animal kingdom. But things have changed – fortunately, in fact – and we now learn more about the ability of many animals to understand that they are an individual entity in their own right. Let’s focus on self-aware animals.
Intelligence is not the property of humans. The challenge was to prove this in a scientifically sound manner. Since the 1970s, there has been a test based on the confrontation of the animal with its image in a mirror, with a situation and the application of a mark on its body to see if it reacts to it. This allows us to know better if animals are aware of themselves or not.
Marine mammals are social animals par excellence; the orcas were already astonishing by their mode of communication with their language, which is not the same from one place of the planet to another. The orcas also passed the mirror and task test with flying colors. They are very self-aware, and that is what causes the most problems when they are (shamefully) held in captivity.
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