Belugas can recognise themselves in mirrors, joining a short list of nonhuman species that show signs of self-awareness

Citation: Mildener A, Buchman D, Ragir S, Reiss D (2026) Evidence for mirror self-recognition in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). PLoS One 21(5): e0348287. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348287

Excerpts from [linked article](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/belugas-can-recognize-themselves-in-mirrors-joining-a-short-list-of-non-human-species-that-show-signs-of-self-awareness-180988783/) by Sarah Kuta:

*[…] According to a study published May 20 in the journal PLOS One, some belugas appear to recognize themselves in mirrors, a feat that puts them on a small but growing list of nonhuman species capable of self-recognition.*

*“Belugas demonstrate a high level of self-awareness and a sense of self,” study co-author Diana Reiss, a cognitive psychologist at Hunter College, City University of New York, tells IFLScience’s Rachael Funnell. “This level of consciousness also includes the comprehension that the mirror can be used as a tool to view oneself.”*

*An estimated 136,000 mature belugas live in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, including off the coast of Alaska. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers them a species of least concern, but the charismatic, melon-headed marine mammals face numerous threats, including disturbances from fisheries, shipping, oil and gas exploration and climate change.*

*For years, scientists thought mirror self-recognition was unique to humans—but that’s no longer the case. Since the 1970s, researchers have shown that chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, bottlenose dolphins, Asian elephants, Eurasian magpies, cleaner wrasse fish and now belugas can also recognize themselves in mirrors.*

I think we are going to see many more such studies showing a wide variety of vertebrates pass the mirror recognition test following the incredible work from [Dr. Masanori Kohda’s lab](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Masanori-Kohda) demonstrating that even simple bony fish like [cleaner wrasse](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368306203_Cleaner_fish_recognize_self_in_a_mirror_via_self-face_recognition_like_humans) can pass the test at [near-human speeds](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397963399_Rapid_self-recognition_ability_in_the_cleaner_fish). If you are not familiar, I highly recommend reading up on his work and its implications for our understanding of animal self-recognition; it seems that many of the failures to pass the mirror test in the existing literature are due to bad study design.

I think it’s reasonable to consider if all vertebrates share the capacity to pass self-recognition tests.

It’s not really “a short list of species.” It’s just a short list of species we’ve thus far tortured and tested.

The test itself is pretty bogus, similar to what we observe with the turing tests.