Marilyn Thipthorpe
Preening in front of the mirror is nothing new to us but just expect a fish doing the same thing; No this isn’t some science fiction movie or animation I’m talking about but real, real life. Giant manta rays were filmed for a study by Csilla Ari, of the University of South Florida in Tampa, which showed results which were astounding. The fish were filmed in a tank both with and without a mirror. When the mirror was present, their behavior changed and suggested a self awareness which was not present before. They did not show signs of social interactions with the image rather they preened and posed before it, flipping their fins as they knew they were looking at themselves. They even blew bubbles at their images, which Ari states in a thing unheard of in the ray social circles! Previously only a number of animal’s chiefly dolphins, elephants, apes, chimpanzees, magpies and even robots have passed the mirror test. But many are cynical, stating that these tests are a one off shot and no other beings besides primates like chimps and apes have proved to pass the test consistently all the time.