Mirror Self‐recognition in Nonhuman Primates: A Phylogenetic Approach

Abstract

To explore the phylogenetic origin of mirror self‐recognition, the present study examined behaviors toward a mirror during a 30‐min session in 12 species of nonhuman primates: prosimians (ring‐tailed lemur), New World monkeys (cottontop tamarin, squirrel monkey, and capuchin), Old World monkeys (bonnet macaque, rhesus macaque, and Japanese macaque), gibbons (white‐handed gibbon), and great apes (orang‐utan, gorilla, bonobo, and chimpanzee). Only the great apes exhibited self‐directed behaviors that were thought to be the critical evidence of mirror self‐recognition. These results suggest that there is a large difference between great apes and the nonhuman primates in terms of the capacity for mirror self‐recognition.