How do animals know another animal is their same species?

Question

Since scientists said animals do not have a sense of themselves, therefore they will not know they are pandas or dogs or cats, for example. But we often see animals fighting or playing with their own species, then they must know what they look like. Anyone can explain why?

Answer 1

Species recognition cues are indeed an important part of the social interactions of many animals. The level of recognition and possibly even 'self-awareness' varies from animal species to animal species.

Some animals have distinctive plumage or colouration whose purpose is primarily just for that purpose; so that conspecifics can recognize that another individual is indeed a member of the same species.

Sometimes, species recognition gets screwed up during the animal's development, such as with birds that imprint on a human or other animal instead of their mother, and fail to recognize their own species when it comes time for mating.

In some species, who are mostly solitary and don't have much to do with each other, the only time they need species recognition is during the mating period. Many spiders have elaborate courtship rituals and dances that are solely used to trigger the mating response in the female. If the male performs any part of the ritual wrong (or sometimes, even if he happens to perform it when the female is not ready) then the female fails to recognize the male as one of her species, and she will often eat him.

Species recognition is an important field of research in ethology (animal behaviour), and is a powerful force in evolutionary selective pressure. Part of the bonding and play seen in young mammals probably has a hand in forming species recognition patterns. Without those, cues can become confused, and mating behaviours disrupted. One example would be the elephant seal that kept trying to mate with cars a few years ago.

Answer 2

The mirror test as a means to determine if an animal has a sense of self is actually pretty stupid if you ask me, feral human children have been known to act the same way as a cat or dog when confronted by a mirror, and yet they can identify that they are human physically and that the mirror reflection is the same... they think it is a different human.... I mean think about it if you never saw what you looked like, never knew what a mirror was would you know it was your reflection?? Likely not, but you would know it was the same species as you because you have seen others. Animals are the same, put a mirror in front of a cat and it may hiss and swat at its reflection because it thinks it is a different cat its not that they dont have a sense of self, its that they dont know what a reflection is and they dont know what they look like themselves. Of course they do know what other cats look like because they had a mother, siblings, and may have met other cats before. Eventually given enough time in front of a mirror most animals realize that they are looking at themselves, another funny thing to note is that they will recognize thier owner or other pets in a mirror...

I think it is funny though that you would be asking how an animal recognizes its own kind, its the same way we do, sight, smell, touch, sound.... you know what they say, if it barks like a dog, smells like a dog, feels like a dog then it must be a dog. Animals are not stupid, they know what others of thier kind look like, smell like etc. because they all had mothers/fathers and siblings at one time... the only possible way an animal would not recognize its own kind is if they were isolated from birth away from thier own kind.

Answer 3

Animals do recognize their own kinds, by sight, sound, and smell. Each animal excretes pheromones (so do people but we have lost most of our olfactory accuity). But they carry their ability even further by recognizing outsiders both by sight and by smell. You have often observed dogs when they first meet, they smell each other careful. In a way of thinking, they are reading each other's history by smell. The scientists that you have mentioned are saying that animals do not have reasoning, but even that isn't so. Primates and particularily chimpanzees has an amazing ability to work out problems. There are no practical tests to prove or disprove an animal's intelligence because all we can do is to apply tests to see if they succeed. If you live in a city, and I give you a test about the countryside...you may do badly, and we are expecting animals to do just that. Animals fight to protect their territories or as a test of strength...sort of nature's way to select the best possible parents for the next generation...even fish do this. The study of biology is a magical world of puzzles and especially if you are a field scientist...you can see the real animals and now the zoo specimens or stereotype beasts people expect. You mentioned Pandas, and I just returned from the Panda Research Center in Chengdu, China and they are great. The government of China has been so successful with their breeding program that they will be returning pandas into the wild. The Center is very quite, no vehicles are allowed so as not to disturb them...everything is carried by hand. It is hidden in a misty valley and is nothing short of wonderful.

Answer 4

"Evolution" is a controversial topic, but some "evolutionary" claims are not controversial at all. There is overwhelming evidence of evolutionary changes within species. Examples are the development of insecticide resistance by insects, and, famously, coloring changes in the English Peppered Moth. Even the most ardent young-earth creationists do not dispute that this sort of "microevolution" takes place. However, the evidence of entirely new species developing from different species is a bit more tenuous. The best evidence for it is found, not in the fossil record, but in genetics. In particular, the evidence for "lower" (simpler) species evolving into "higher" (more complex) species is disputed. The weakest of all of the evolutionist claims is for abiogenesis: the assertion that living creatures somehow sprang from abiotic origins through undirected evolution. No plausible, coherent explanation for how that could have happened has been suggested. Note that the term "species" is rather malleable. Classically, a species is defined as a group of creatures which closely resemble each other and can produce fertile progeny when interbred. However, there is a tendency, these days, to call any distinguishable variety a species, in part for political reasons. For example, the Florida Panther is virtually indistinguishable from the Texas Cougar except for a kink near the tip of the tail, and the two varieties of cat interbreed freely, yet the Florida Panther is a legally protected "endangered species," even though its Texas cousin is not endangered. (If the same standard were applied to domestic animals, there would be dozens of dog species!) This is not the sort of "species" distinction that I meant when I referred to an "entirely new species" in the third paragraph, above. In answer to your question, the assertion that "humans evolved from monkeys" is questionable. However, I don't think that anyone would dispute that Florida Panthers and Texas Cougars evolved from common ancestors. Whether they really should be called different species, however, is debatable.

Answer 5

Well, "since scientists say" has got to be the most unscientific statement! Which scientists? Scientists arent just one big homogenous group! what sort ofscientists?
Animals have recognition abilities they just dont involve abstract notions of titles and groupings, they smell hear feel and see so recognise ....whats the problem? you need to quote more of this "not have a sense of themselves" article or book that you read or saw---how you are phrasing it doesnt make sense...what do you or they mean by "since scientists said animals do not have a sense of themselves" refer me to a link......look up recognition patterns and theres good data on bird special recognition

Answer 6

they have a nervous system like us and they are capable of identifying their own species,we are just more complex than them thats all.they do these by noticing some characteristics in some animals they posses like if a dog heres another dog bark,he notices the other dog is of its species and only dogs bark.

Answer 7

My best guess on this question is that species-identification is hard-wired into the brain - it's instinct. Also, I would imagine that imprinting is part of it. Can't prove it - it's just what makes sense to me.

Answer 8

i think they know each other .. from the smell .. it recognizes from the smell if it's of the same species or not ...

Answer 9

well, i do know ants follow their team by smelling the smell that left by their team when going here and there...different ants' group have different smell...

Answer 10

MOSTLY instict, and others cues like sight, smell, behavior, etc.