When you see a mirror, you see yourself. This seemingly basic ability demonstrates whether an animal being possesses self-awareness. Humans, great apes, dolphins, elephants, and magpies are also said to pass Gordon Galoup’s famous “mirror test.”

It’s still debatable whether our pets like dogs, cats, or rabbits have that same ability. But from what countless pet owners have seen, gazing at yourself is quite a trend in the house animal kingdom. Bored Panda compiled a list of the most adorable little pets looking at their reflections, as if they were telling them: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the furriest of them all?” We may not know the reason for such behavior, but at least we know the motif.

#1 The Importance Of A Selfie Angle

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#2 Looking In The Mirror

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#3 Find Someone Who Looks At You The Way My Cat Looks At Himself In The Mirror

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When we look into a mirror, we recognize that the image we’re looking at is our own. Psychologists see it as a special mental act which requires sophisticated aspects of our consciousness. Interestingly, the ability to be self-aware of one’s reflection is not something we’re born with. It’s only between the age of 18 and 24 months that babies begin to understand what it is that they’re seeing in the mirror.

The mirror self-recognition test has been applied to animals since its inception in the 1970s and has been considered to be the gold standard indicating whether a living being is self-aware or not. While very few animals and primates have showed signs of self-awareness and passed mirror tests, our beloved dogs have failed it.

According to The Cut, “They do not seem to know, or perhaps they don’t really care, what is going on with the mirror’s scentless, two-dimensional representation of a dog.”

#4 “I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough, And Gosh Darnit, People Like Me”

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#5 Looking In The Mirror

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#6 My Cat Thinks My Makeup Mirror Is Mesmerizing

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However, many scientists feel skeptical about whether the mirror test is the right indication of animal consciousness. For example, the primatologist Frans de Waal argues that self-awareness should be understood as a broader concept. “I cannot imagine that a cat or a dog—even though they don’t recognize themselves in the mirror—I find it hard to imagine that they have no awareness of themselves,” he said.

And while in human developmental psychology, the mirror represents a significant threshold in our sense of self, animal minds don’t necessarily work like the human mind. Not every animal is attuned to social intelligence so deeply like us, and not every animal perceives the world in its visual dimension. Dogs, for example, could have failed the mirror test because their primary instrument of perception is smell.

#7 Owl Sees Himself In The Mirror

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#8 The Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Known

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#9 Looking In The Mirror

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#10 I Sees You

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#11 I Caught My Cat Staring At Himself In The Mirror Looking Like A Renaissance Painting.

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#12 Daily Ritual To Connect With The Mirror Cat

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#13 Foster Dog Finds Mirror, Falls In Love

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#14 Baby Otter Looking At The Mirror

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#15 Looking In The Mirror

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#16 My Rabbit Does This Every Day. Not Sure What He’s Thinking About…

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#17 Looking In The Mirror

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#18 He Already Knows How Pretty He Is

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#19 Roscoe Gets It

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#20 Happens After Ever Bath She Gets. She Goes To The Sink, Stands Up, Paws Down, And Looks At Herself In The Mirror.

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#21 Looking In The Mirror

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#22 Sad Mirror Cat

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#23 Same Energy

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#24 Looking In The Mirror

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#25 Looking In The Mirror

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#26 Standing Cat Looking In Mirror

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#27 My Dog Has Discovered Her First Mirror. She Keeps Rolling Her Ball To The “Other Dog” And Whining Because She Wants To Play

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#28 Every Morning When I’m Getting Ready For Work My Cat Protects Me From This Scary Mirror Cat.

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#29 My Chinchilla Saw Himself For The First Time In The Mirror Today

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#30 He Kept Looking Into The Mirror For Quite A While, Seems Really Depressed About The New Look After Shaving.

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#31 Identity Crisis

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#32 We Don’t Deserve Dogs. This Is Dakota. She Faced Her Greatest Fear- The Dog Who Lives In Our Mirrors – To Sit With Me In The Bathroom When I Was Sad

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#33 Put This Mirror On The Bedside Table And Renly Couldn’t Handle It

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#34 “I Don’t Even Know Who I Am Anymore”

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#35 This Is My Favorite Pic Of My Dog

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#36 This Cat Sees Himself In The Mirror

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#37 My Sister’s Dog When She Was A Puppy, Fascinated With Mirrors. Meet Millie!

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#38 We’ve Been Feeding A Stray For A Few Weeks – Helped Himself To A Tour Of The House And Ended Up Getting Mesmerized By The Mirror

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#39 Meet Kaiser, My 2-Year Old Gsd Foster. Last Night He Discovered Mirrors. Now He Comes By Every 10 Minutes Or So Just To Sit And Stare At Himself

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#40 Longfellow Meeting Himself In The Mirror For The First Time.

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#41 This Is Winnie. She Is 11 Weeks Old, Has Mastered “Sit” And Doesn’t Understand Why She Can’t Play With Her Mirror Sister. She Is A Mini Bernese Mountain Dog, And A V Good Girl.

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#42 Today My 7 Week Old Puppy Saw Himself For The First Time

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#43 I Rescued A Dog Tonight. She Just Keeps Following Me Around Smiling At Me… Even Through The Mirror

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#44 He Likes To Stare At His Human Through Mirrors

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#45 Looking In The Mirror

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#46 My Dog Does This Too. This Is Her Looking At Me Through A Mirror. Face With Tears Of Joy

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#47 Kill Them. Kill Them All.

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#48 She Used The Mirror To Look At Me. I Just Thought She Looked So Precious ^.^

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#49 This Is Toki, My Pet Cockatiel, Singing To Himself In The Mirror C:

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#50 Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who’s The Pretties Skink Of All?

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#51 Someone Discovered Mirror Today

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#52 It Looks Like It Nailed A Job Interview

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#53 Looking In The Mirror

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#54 This Fb Marketplace Photo Looks Like An Art Piece To Me

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#55 Our Cat Frodo Sits On The Sink Every Morning And Watches Us Through The Mirror. It’s Unnerving But Cute

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#56 He’s Lived Here Since The Day He Was Born In April 2011. Today Is The Day He Suddenly Notices The Bathroom Mirror And Decides To Be Terrified.

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#57 Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who’s The Prettiest Fox Of Them All?

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#58 Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall…

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#59 I Forgot To Turn My Magnifying Mirror Off Last Night Before I Left The House. Came Home To This Little Situation. Meet Roscoe.

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#60 My Doodle, Using A Mirror To Spy On Me While I Sleep. The Second I Show Signs Of Life, She Runs Over To Me So We Can Go For A Walk Or To Get Pets. She Thinks She’s Fooling Me. She Understands How Mirrors Work, But She Doesn’t Understand That I, Too, Understand How Mirrors Work.

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#61 What’s That Handsome Cat Doing In The Mirror?

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#62 Then She Licked The Mirror Because It Seemed Like There Was A Nice Dog In It 🙂

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#63 Mirror Pic

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#64 Put A Mirror In Front Of Him And He Thought He Had Made A New Friend

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#65 Magic Mirror On The Wall Who Is The Fairest One Of All

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#66 Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who’s The Handsomest Bun Of All?

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#67 When You Get Up From A Nap And Look In The Mirror

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#68 She Was Confused By The New Mirror. (Apologies For Potato Quality)

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#69 My Dog Looking Into A Vanity Mirror…….he Was Honing In On My Grand Daughters New Toy. Look At Me!

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#70 True Introspection

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#71 Who Made Me? And What Did They Make Me For?

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#72 Contemplating Life

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#73 Surprise Guest!

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#74 My Kitty Looking At His Reflection In The Mirror.

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#75 Usually My Cat Ignores The Mirror, Walked In The Bathroom And Caught Her Looking At Her Reflection

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#76 My Cat Checks Himself Out In The Mirror Everyday

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#77 Mirror Mirror Who Is Cutest White Cloud?

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#78 Tfw You Realize How Mirrors Work… Because You Realize You See Your Human And Not Just Another Angry Kitten.

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#79 We Rescued A Puppy And He Just Can’t Stop Looking At Himself In The Mirror

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#80 My Rabbit Really, Really Likes Looking At Himself In The Mirror.

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#81 Whenever I Go To The Bathroom, He Stares At Me Through The Mirror Like This…

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#82 Doin A Protecc From The Heckin Floof In The Mirror. She Growls At Herself At Least Once A Day

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#83 “Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is The Fairest Of Them All?”

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#84 Looking In The Mirror

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#85 Looking In The Mirror

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#86 My Goofy 3 Legged Dog Bug Realizing He Can Make Eye Contact With Me Through The Mirror.

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#87 Contemplating Existence

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#88 My Cat Stares Me Down Through The Mirror When I’m On The Toilet

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#89 This Is Belle’s Reaction After A Friend Brought Her Big Dog Over. She Sat In The Dark Looking At Herself In The Mirror Until I Picked Her Up And Took Her To My Room.

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#90 Our Little 4-Month Old Phoebe Discovered Herself In The Mirror.

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#91 She Discovered Herself In The Mirror And Thought It Was An Intruder Cat That Needed To Be Growled At And Batted Around Slightly

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#92 My Cat Admiring Himself In The Mirror

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#93 When She Looks Into The Mirror, All She Sees Are Claws And Impurrfections.

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#94 The Cat Wouldn’t Stop Looking Into My New Mirror

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#95 My Rabbit Also Likes To Stare At Himself In The Mirror

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#96 Every Morning My French Bulldog, Chubbs, Stares At Himself In The Mirror To Get His Day Started.

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#97 My Dog Stares At Me Through Mirrors

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#98 Mirror Mirror On The Wall… Who Is The Fattest Of Them All?

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#99 Objects In The Mirror Are Bigger Than They Appear

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#100 This Was The First Time She Saw Herself In The Mirror

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#101 Mirror Mirror In The Bowl, Who’s The Goodest Boy You Know?

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#102 Looking In The Mirror

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#103 Looking In The Mirror

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#104 Looking In The Mirror

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#105 Looking In The Mirror

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#106 Looking In The Mirror

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#107 Looking In The Mirror

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#108 Looking In The Mirror

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#109 First Time Looking In The Mirror

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#110 My Dog Likes To Stare At Me Through The Mirror.

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#111 My Dog Likes To Stare At Me Through Mirrors

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#112 Reflective Boi

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#113 Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is The Fairest Of Them All? ?

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#114 Every Single Day, Tito Sits Here And Stares At Himself In The Mirror For At Least 3 Solid Minutes. We Call It His Daily Affirmation Time. “I’m Handsome, People Like Me. I’m A Good Jumper, I Keep My White Fur Exceptionally White, And I’m A Great Conversationalist.”

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#115 Cat In Mirror.

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#116 My Cat Loves To Look At Himself In The Mirror

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#117 Chloe ‘Mirin Herself In The Mirror

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#118 My Cat Often Sits In Front Of The Mirror And Stares Herself Down.

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#119 Im Not Sure If My Dog Understands How Mirrors Work, But He Sits And Stares At Me Like This For Hours On End

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#120 My Cat Always Looks Into Other Room Using Mirror

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#121 Looking In The Mirror

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#122 Looking In The Mirror

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#123 Looking In The Mirror

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#124 Looking In The Mirror

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#125 Looking In The Mirror

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#126 Looking In The Mirror

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#127 Existential Crisis In Full Effect

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#128 The Face He Makes In The Mirror.

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#129 Cat And Mirror

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#130 Mirror Mirror On The Wall…

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#131 Winston Likes To Look At Himself In The Mirror. He’s Practicing His Blue Steel.

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Source: boredpanda.com