From Peter Russell, Sebastopol, California, US
The rooster that wasn’t alarmed by its own reflection in a mirror may not be exhibiting self-awareness so much as “not-other awareness”. Any species that drinks from still water will be presented with a natural mirror, and it will need to know that the reflection it sees isn’t a foe to be fled from every time it wants a drink – hardly in the interest of its survival. All such creatures probably sense this. But we shouldn’t confuse it with true self-awareness. That is a higher level of cognition probably only seen in a few species (4 November, p 18).
