title: Do rhesus monkeys recognize themselves in mirrors?
abstract: Self-recognition continues to attract attention because of the evidence of a striking difference between the great apes and humans, on the one hand, and all other primates; the former are capable of self recognition,whereas no compelling evidence exists for prosimians, monkeys, or lesser apes. This is inspite of numerous attempts to facilitate mirror self-recognition in other primates. Although all previous attempts to find self-recognition in rhesus macaques have failed, a recent article [Rajala et al., PLoS One9:e12865, 2010] claimed the opposite—that adult male rhesus monkeys did recognize their own image in a mirror. We critically examine this claim, and conclude that the article fails to provide acceptable evidence for self-recognition in rhesus monkeys.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland. jra1@stir.ac.uk
authors: James R
authors: JR
authors: Anderson
authors: Gordon G
authors: GG
authors: Gallup
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D014796:Visual Perception