In the Gabon jungle a young male gorilla continues his learning in the mirror

2 years ago
20

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Anne-Marie and Xavier HUBERT-BRIERRE with Michel GUISS DJOMOU have been setting up very large mirrors since 2009 in a remote region of Gabon near the equator line and close to the Atlantic Ocean. Multiple camera traps were placed in front of each of these mirrors to film the animals' reactions to their reflection from different angles and distances.
In humans around the age of 2 years after learning in the mirror with his parents that the young child recognizes himself in a mirror. If, without him noticing, his mother puts a lipstick mark on his forehead and places him in front of the mirror, discovering this mark on his reflection, he will then put his hand on his own forehead. He will have passed the mirror test.
It appears that these mirrors placed on the estate of a gorilla family. Videos published on YouTube, with a total of more than 100 million views, showed the reactions of his family chief ("the silverback" https://youtu.be/tz0avWZoqjg This Silverback thinks this intruder in the mirror) to these intruders. They highlight that this chief cannot look his reflection in the mirror because among the silverbacks, looking each other straight in the eye is like a " war declaration ".
This video of his son, not yet head of the family, therefore not yet silverback, shows that he could quietly watch his reflection and make his apprenticeship in the mirror to reach the stage where he perceives the reflected image as himself, rather than of another gorilla. He can look at his teeth, his tongue and have fun making faces.
When he has started a family, will he make a difference between his image in the mirror, which he will continue to look straight in the eyes, and a silverback outside the mirror, which he will try to drive out of his domain, without looking him straight in the eyes to avoid a real confrontation?
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