Self-awareness in animals

The question then arises as to whether or not the absence of language also implies the absence of either consciousness or thought, or in fact whether the communication between animals is in fact related closely enough to that of humans that language ceases to be an issue when investigating the difference between human and animal consciousness, (Lea Kiley-Worthington, 1996).

There is reasonably strong evidence to suggest that not only can animals communicate with each other, but they can in fact learn to communicate with humans. Apes, in particular have been proven to be particularly adept at learning American sign language, or other symbolic versions of communication to the extent that in 1998, a gorilla called Koko reportedly communicated via American Sign Language her hopes for freedom, and to have a baby, over the internet, (www.koko.org). A chimpanzee called Kanzi has also been reported to understand a version of symbolic sign language developed by her trainer Sue Savage-Rumbah, and can in fact carry out actions such as picking up a straw, or carrying rubbish to another trainer when instructed to do so, (Wynne, 1999). These examples, appear to be compelling evidence



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	The Universe and Our Existence ... cosmic drama. Through conscious beings the universe has generated selfawareness. ... homeobox Hox family of developmentregulating genes in animals can also ... (6222

communication that permits us to make this assumption. The question then arises as to whether or not the absence of language also implies the absence of either consciousness or thought, or in fact whether the communication between animals is in fact related closely enough to that of humans that language ceases to be an issue when investigating the difference between human and animal consciousness, (Lea Kiley-Worthington, 1996).

Another possible area of research that could provide insight into self-awareness in animals and its relevance to human self-awareness is that which deals with the concept of a "Theory of Mind"tm. A Theory of Mind is said to be the understanding that others"tm thoughts, emotions and knowledge are different from ones own, thus allowing predictions about their behaviour to be made. The general consensus is that if an individual possesses a theory of mind, they must be self-aware, as in order to understand that others thoughts are different from their own, they must realise that they themselves have thoughts in the first place. In humans, the most common test for a theory of mind is known as the Sally-Anne test, and uses two dolls to present a false-belief situation. What commonly happens when the test is performed on children under the age of four, or those with difficulties such as autism, is that they will demonstrate an inability to differentiate between the knowledge they themselves possess, and that held by another being, thus suggesting they have not developed a theory of mind. ( Baron-Cohen, Leslie Frith, 1985, cited in Eyesenk Flanagan, 2001). Hauser, (1998, cited in Eyesenk Flanagan, 2001), devised his own version of the Sally-Anne test, suitable for use with non-human primates. In this version, the subject observes an actor watching an object being hidden. A screen is then placed between the object and the actor, preventing them from seeing that another actor is moving the object to a new location. The animal, is however witness to all of this. When the first actor returns they begin to search for the object. The amount of time the chimpanzee stares at the actor, whilst they are searching in both locations is used as the determining factor in establishing whether or not the animal has a theory of mind, judging by whether or not they pay more attention when the actor is searching in the wrong location, or the correct, but supposedly unknown one. The conclusions drawn based on this research were that non-human primates, can in fact exhibit behaviour consistent with the possession of a Theory of Mind. Surprising findings arose when this test was performed on children under the age of four who had failed the Sally-Anne test, as it was discovered that they behaved very similarly to the chimpanzees, leading to the proposal very young children do in fact possess a theory of mind, but may simply have difficulties with some other aspect of the Sally-Anne test.

Another area of research which is linked to self-awareness in animals, is research into deception. There has been much support for the notion that animals are capable of deception, though the large majority of it is based upon observations of animals in their natural environment rather than controlled studies. Although this provides a high level of ecological validity, it does make it difficult to determine with certainty what the reason for behaviour truly is. For example it has been observed that certain species of ants mislead other colonies by emitting an alarm signal, which instructs the ants to flee, before making a r

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