The mirror test--are we smart enough to test animal intelligence

[Catherine]

I came across a detailed article about the mirror test. It is how we often test animal intelligence and self awareness. If the animal recognizes its image in the way we think it should, then it is intelligent. If it responds differently then we decide that it is not intelligent.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

There are a lot of problems with testing animal intelligence. I don't think we are even close to a right method with most species. The mirror method seems to be unreliable. Until elephants were shown really big mirrors they couldn't recognize their own images.
Some creatures are not visual. Some rely on scent more than sight.

What does it say about us that we see recognizing ourselves in a mirror as a criteria for intelligence. It seems to be a pretty low standard for any species.