In this month's column:a tale of the mythical Sea King Rin-Jin; a jellyfish that can walk on land; and a monkey that gazes, like the wicked witch in Snow White, at its own reflection in a mirror — though, unlike the wicked witch, the monkey is not so interested in looking at its face.
Last week, biologists published a paper suggesting that monkeys could pass the mirror test. This is a classic test given to animals to measure the amount of self-awareness they have. Show a cat or a dog — or a 1-year-old human, for that matter — a mirror, and the animal won't know that it is looking at a reflection of itself. Chimps, on the other hand, and older children, understand that they are seeing their own image.
What of monkeys? And in particular, macaques. They are smart — they are famous in Japan for washing sweet potatoes in the sea and taking baths in hot springs in the winter. Macaques also have a central place in Japanese myths. They are in the A-team of animals in folklore, along with foxes and tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs). Do macaques also have the mental ability to be self-aware?