Self-awareness is a complex of abilities where empathy, theory of mind (ToM) and episodic memory are attributed to a higher level. Developed for demonstrating mirror self-recognition (MSR) in chimpanzees, mirror mark test has later been commonly used to demonstrate self-awareness in animals. Self-awareness is vital in issues about animal welfare, therefore examining methods of measurement for self-awareness is relevant for improving our understanding of this welfare. Pigs make suitable candidates by representing a species of great economic importance and because knowledge about how animals experience their life and their welfare has great ethical relevance. Consequently, the aim of this study is to illustrate self-awareness in animals and methods of measurement for this, using pigs as an illustrative example. To accomplish this research was conducted using Web of Science. When mirror mark test was applied on cleaner wrasse it was concluded that it passed the test but its relation to self-awareness and ToM was denied. In Pigs knowledge about the MSR is lacking, however they have showed more complex abilities like episodic-like memory and tactical deception, the latter being related to ToM. Cleaner wrasse here represents a species possessing a morphological disability in the mirror mark test, contributing to interpretation difficulties of its demonstrated behavior. Consequently, using the test as a standardized test for self-awareness is being questioned. A gradual perspective on self-awareness can entail better knowledge about which cognitive abilities are shared among species and possibly contribute to more justifiable assessments concerning the welfare of pigs and other farm animals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-166752 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Uher, Veronika |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Biologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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