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Listen to part of a lecture in an animal behavior class.
听一段动物行为课。
As you know, researchers have long been interested in discovering exactly how intelligent animals are.
正如你们所知，研究人员一直很感兴趣，想知道动物到底有多聪明。
Today we are going to talk about a particular cognitive ability some animals seem to have—the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror.
今天我们将谈谈一种特殊的认知能力——在镜子中认出自己，似乎某些动物也具有这种能力。
Oh. I've heard about that. Chimpanzees have it.
我听说过。黑猩猩可以。
Right. Chimpanzees and other primates, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, and of course, humans.
对。黑猩猩和其它灵长类动物，像黑猩猩、大猩猩和猩猩，当然了，还有人类。
But it's also been found in elephants and bottlenose dolphins, a bit of a surprise.
但大象和宽吻海豚也具备这种能力，这可是有点出乎意料。
It's very rare. Most animals don't have it.
这很罕见。大多数动物都没有这种能力。
And it's called mirror self-recognition, or MSR.
这称为镜像自我认知，或MSR。
Well, how does it work? I mean, how do researchers know if elephants or chimps recognize themselves?
这是怎么操作的？我是说，研究人员是怎么知道大象或黑猩猩认出了自己的？
Researchers give them a mirror mark test.
研究人员给它们做了镜像标记测试。
In the mirror mark test, researchers put a mark on the animal where the animal is unable to see it or smell it or feel it, like on the side of their head, without looking in the mirror.
在镜像标记测试中，研究人员在给动物做了标记，但动物看不见、闻不出且感觉不到这个标记所在，像是在它们脑袋的一边，除非看镜子。
Now, typically, when animals first see themselves in the mirror, they think they are seeing another animal.
一般来说，当动物第一次在镜子里看到自己，会以为它们看到的是别的动物。
Often they will look for this animal behind the mirror.
通常它们会寻找镜子后的动物。
They may even exhibit aggressive behavior.
它们甚至还可能会表现出攻击性行为。
But some animals, after this period of exploration, exhibit behaviors that show they know they are looking at themselves.
但某些动物在探索阶段过后，其行为表示它们知道它们看见的是自己。
For instance, elephants will touch the mark on their heads with their trunks.
举个例子吧，大象会用鼻子触碰脑袋上的标记。
Now, it's been assumed that primates and some other mammals stood alone at the top of the hierarchy of cognitive evolution.
大家都认为灵长类动物和其它一些哺乳动物居于认知进化层次的顶端。
But recently, birds have been found to possess some of the same cognitive abilities!
但在最近，人们发现鸟类也具备某些相同的认知能力。
In particular, researchers have discovered these abilities in corvids, birds of the Corvidae family.
特别是研究人员发现了鸦科鸟类具有这些能力。
