Dogs know where their paws end and the world begins

[Judi Lynn]

By Yasemin Saplakoglu - Staff Writer 3 days ago

Dogs may have self-awareness just like humans.



(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Dogs know where their paws end and the world begins, a new study shows, adding our furry companions to a group of animals that, like humans, recognize themselves as distinct entities from their environment.

Called body awareness, this ability is one of the most basic manifestations of self-representation (also known as self-awareness). Humans develop body awareness very early in life: 5-month-old babies can distinguish their own moving legs from a video recording of the same action, for example. This ability then develops into more complex forms of distinguishing oneself from those around them.

Previous research mainly tested species on more complex forms of the ability. For example, one of the most famous tests of self-representation is the "mirror-mark task," in which animals are thought to possess a more advanced form of self-representation, if they can recognize themselves in a mirror.

Great apes, elephants, dolphins, corvid birds and a "constantly growing list" of species pass this test, said senior author Péter Pongrácz, an associate professor in the department of ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. But dogs had not.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/dogs-show-body-awareness.html

[imaginary girl]

1. Other studies have shown dogs recognize their own scent

Since scent is a more prominent sense for them (like sight is for us), that seems to be a parallel form of self awareness, not lower as mentioned in the article. But I do enjoy seeing the speciest judgements of science being broken down over time!

[Javaman]

2. I remember as a kid asking my then brother in law

if dogs have memory.

His response, I will never for get, "nope, out of sight, out of mind"

no wonder my sister divorced him LOL