TY  - JOUR
A1  - Prior, Helmut
A1  - Schwarz, Ariane
A1  - Güntürkün, Onur
T1  - Mirror-induced behavior in the magpie (Pica pica) : evidence of self-recognition
T2  - PLoS biology
N2  - Comparative studies suggest that at least some bird species have evolved mental skills similar to those found in humans and apes. This is indicated by feats such as tool use, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use one´s own experience in predicting the behavior of conspecifics. It is, however, not yet clear whether these skills are accompanied by an understanding of the self. In apes, self-directed behavior in response to a mirror has been taken as evidence of self-recognition. We investigated mirror-induced behavior in the magpie, a songbird species from the crow family. As in apes, some individuals behaved in front of the mirror as if they were testing behavioral contingencies. When provided with a mark, magpies showed spontaneous mark-directed behavior. Our findings provide the first evidence of mirror self-recognition in a non-mammalian species. They suggest that essential components of human self-recognition have evolved independently in different vertebrate classes with a separate evolutionary history.
Y1  - 2008
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/5849
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-57921
SN  - 1545-7885
N1  - © 2008 Prior et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
VL  - 6
IS  - (8): e202
SP  - 1642
EP  - 1650
PB  - PLoS
CY  - Lawrence, Kan.
ER  -