Are Dolphins Self-Aware?

Everybody knows that Bottlenose dolphins are smart. But many don't realize that they have been shown to be self-aware. A study using "the mirror test" showed that they do in fact recognize themselves from others. The results showed that when the dolphins had certain marks on their body they would investigate that area in the mirror more than when the marks were absent. Whereas when other dolphins near them have marks, they do not attend to them. One flaw in doing the mirror test with dolphins is that unlike great apes, they cannot physically touch the marking but instead only position their bodies to look at it. This is why more studies have been done to determine self recognition. Another study showed the dolphin the mirror image and would switch over to footage of other dolphins as though they were looking in the mirror as well. The results showed that their response to the mirror and footage was extremely different. The footage resulted the dolphin to act in a social way. 

Although we cannot say that dolphins are in fact self-aware. The idea of it being a fact is eye opening for a lot of people. To think that many animals have the capacity to recognize themselves from others helps humans understand that the gap between humans and animals is actually very small, or not even there at all. In the article by Mark Bekoff he states that, " their response to the red dot means to them "this is me," that they are self-conscious, they know "who" they are." But unless we are actually in the mind of the animal we don't truly know the answer. The possibility that other animals think about themselves like humans do is incredible and opens many doors to how we will relate to them. To think that they in fact have the same cognitive capacity as humans is amazing!