Consciousness in Nature
The test was done at Goethe University in Frankfurt Germany. They took five Magpies, a bird with a brain the size of a nut, and put mirrors in their living space and let them experiment with them. Then they painted a mark on their throat, where they could only see it if they were looking in the mirror.
When the experiment was done, all of the birds, except one stood at the mirror and tried to remove the spot. In Picture “A” to the right he is using his beak to try and rub it off. In picture “B” he is trying to rub it with his claws. The one that didn’t stand at the mirror, did appear to notice the spot, but didn’t seem to care. Clearly Brain size is not a factor in self-awareness.
We can't give we can't give plants and insects a mirror test but some experiments do indicate a consciousness. Let’s look next at just a few of the dozens of studies.