Can bunnies see themselves in mirrors?

[Cassi&Charlie]

Charlie has found a mirror and now wont leave it alone. He keeps moving his head around, and it looks like he’s watching his reflection. Can he see another bunny on the other side of the ‘glass’ or is he just watching movement?

[BunnyMuffin]

I can’t think of any reason why he wouldn’t be able to see himself, he’s probably wondering how this other bunny got in and why it keeps following him. 🙂 When my dog was a puppy she used to get all spunky and bark at the closet mirror and try to get it to play with her, but I think she eventually figured it out.

[MimzMum]

lmao! C&C, if you go to the page on Binky where our beloved forum leader has setup the profiles of her bunnies, you’ll see Jack’s entry and how he would happily honk at his reflection, thinking it was the mate he’d been separated from before coming to live with her.

I often thought that would be the way to go to get a bunny used to being bonded, but I don’t have any mirrors in my house.

[MarkBun]

He can see the bunny, he doesn’t recognize it as himself though. Maryann shies away from her reflection.

[ADEE]

abbie is totally conceded!!!! she stares at herself all the time in our mirror hahahaa….Rain, not so much

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I was going to mention the Jack story Mimz! That makes me tear up when I think the poor soul was seperated from his GF and thought he’d found her…Lucky he found BB and Rucy!!

That’s actually an intelligence test Markus…not saying Maryann isn’t the smartest bun we’ve ever met though!! Most dogs and chimps will react to their appearance in a mirror as anothe animal and not themselves. The way they test this is to put a mark on the animal and see if the animal reacts as if it’s another animal or tries to attend to the streak. Dolphins do react to the mark and therefore recognize the image as themselves.
Interestingly, chimps for all their intelligence; watching a video of their trainer asking them to do something do not do it. Dolphins can watch the video and respond to the command. They are extremely intelligent.
*rambling sorry!!!*

[jerseygirl]

Wonder if the dolphins are amused at the Humans doing this test on them, when they are the more intelligent. (I know this because The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy told me so)

[Cassi&Charlie]

Goodby and thanks for all the fish

Do you mean the books or the movie or the BBC series? I love them al, although the BBC series is better then the movie!

Jerseygirl, I think our tastes in movies and TV are very similar.

[jerseygirl]

The BOOKS!  It’s been 15 years since I read em.  Must read again…………no time………….BinkyBunny.com………

[MimzMum]

I dunno, K&K… I think if dolphin DNA could be crossed with bunny DNA that would be one seriously hyper-intelligent creature…that could balance a ball on it’s nose and order papaya tablets with your credit card simultaneously. ^_^

Kinda OT, but has anyone here ever seen the old movie “Day of the Dolphin”? I only remember snatches of it but the ending was worth at least one box of Kleenex for me.

[jerseygirl]

I’ve not heard of it. Curious now thou! The Day of the Dolphins sounds nicer than Day of the Triffords! I saw that one waaay to young and remember just feeling sick. Off topic…….as usual!

[Cassi&Charlie]

it’s ok, I actually really like it when posts go off topic into strange things, and since this is my post then it’s all good go as off topic as you like!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

LOL^^ Ok since I have permission to continue waaay OT (you may regret this hehehe)

OK How freaking CUTE would a bunny crossed with a dolphin be?? Or weird looking? Dolphins are descended from the same common anscestor (although we all have a common anscestor if you go back far enough) from Wolves, and consequently Dogs so I think that’s why all MUST love them!
Mimz I agree, I bet the dolphins are chuckling when they are being put through the tests. The most amazing thing I’ve ever researched (It was for a grad level Neuro course, animal communication) was this most amazing experiment teaching dolphins language.

I mean we all know animals communicate (can share with other animals) but language is quite different. Semantics I know, but they’re all about that in this field.

Anyways, they taught the dolphins language through commands. The definitng notion was that the dolphin could see a brand new set of ‘words’ (motions) and put them together into a command he’d NEVER done or heard before, because he understood the ‘words’ (motions)
AMAZING stuff-simply breathtaking!!

Here’s the place that does it!

http://www.dolphin-institute.org/resource_guide/animal_language.htm

[RabbitPam]

I would rather see dolphins crossed with humans. I think that they are so intelligent that they’d help us with all this aggression (I wonder what their hormone levels are?) and we could swim more. We’d probably look cute, too.

Dolphins probably think we’re too dumb to mate with. (Speaking of OT – does anyone remember the Smothers Brothers song about Herman and Sally? Herman was a lobster and Sally was a crab who fell in love. The refrain was: “Crabs Walk Sideways and Lobsters Walk Straight and we won’t let you take her for your mate.”

[RabbitPam]

Song goes like this:

Herman met Sally on the beach one night.

The sea was calm and the starfish were bright.

He looked at her and she looked at him and it was

true love at first sight.

Now Herman told his folks about the girl he found

and they said “Herman. There must be other girls around.

Cause crabs walk sideways and lobsters walk straight and we won’t let you take her for your mate.”

Ending: One day on the sand dune what did Herman see

but his little ‘ol Sally walking straight as can be

He said “Sally, I can take you in my family

and she said “Herman! (hiccup) Don’t you shweet talk me. (Drunken hiccup.)

*Refrain repeats.*

[bunnytowne]

Laith for sure saw himself in the mirror.   Thats when he first started spraying.  He was marking his reflection hehee

my Dog did that too. she would sit to the side of the mirror and lean into it to see the reflection she thought was another dog. She would lean back n forth trying to figure out why it dissapeared and reappeared.

[MimzMum]

One of my cats used to freak out at his reflection like that. But he is a quick learner, so he doesn’t do it anymore. If I pick him up and ask him who that handsome guy is, he almost smiles. ^_^

What was that old saying, I think it was Mark Twain, “If you could cross cats with humans it would improve the human but it would degrade the cat.” That’s what I thought of when Pam talked about dolphins and humans. ^_^

Of course, this is all way bizarre. 0_o I get creeped out just thinking of stem cell stuff, never mind genetic engineering of different species. Like the old urban rumor about cow people. >.<

[BunnyMuffin]

Cow people? I’m almost afraid to ask…

[MimzMum]

Eh…it was something that was broadcast on Coast to Coast A.M. So it’s probably just bunkum.

[RabbitPam]

Next year is the Chinese Year of the Cow, so you’d better tell us the story, MM.

[MimzMum]

Hogeeze… *struggles to remember*

Something about some laboratory somewhere, I think in Europe, was crossing human and cow DNA and trying to make cow people. I think it was one of those stories that was tied in with crop circles and bovine mutilations and stuff. Kinda gross.

I think there were pig people too. Art Bell was the host of the show and he hasn’t been a regular on it since I don’t know when. He retired some years ago and George Noory hosts it now.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Now I remember a cute story. They had mirrors up in the place Jimm, my lease horse was boarded. I think it was so you could watch yourself ride. Jimm would always peak at the mirrors while we were riding around, and after working I’d let him hang out in front of the mirror-he was totally enjoying looking at himself LOL

[Author]

Messages