Elephants recognize themselves in a mirror showing "self-awareness"

This segment from "Through The Wormhole" takes us to a research program that studies how elephants behave in front of a giant mirror.

Many of the elephants quickly recognize that they are seeing themselves and they move on to examining themselves and looking at body parts they can't normally see.

This suggests that they are self-aware in a manner similar to humans. They have the capacity for understanding the concept of the behavior of other elephants is separate from their own.

The point of all this is to explore if other species, elephants in this case, might have a sense of spirituality or "recognize the mind of God." To be able to acknowledge a higher power, beings first must show "theory of mind," or the concept that we are separate from others.

Really fascinating five minutes. You can watch this or a rerun of some old sitcom. I choose this. Watch below.