Fierce bad kittens! Gunslinger puppies! Just add a mirror and they’ll do the rest.
I’m convinced that cats and dogs come to understand–and enjoy–mirrors.
(My poor chameleon! I had to remove the mirror before he did himself a mischief. Chameleons take mirrors very seriously.)
Most animals just don’t get mirrors. I discovered this early in life, when I showed my “chameleon” (an anole, actually) a hand mirror and was amazed by the little lizard’s violent reaction to his own reflection. I’m surprised he didn’t blow a gasket.
So here we are with dogs and cats, goats, a horse, lizards, and even a monkey, all of them baffled by that mysterious expanse of glass. We’ve seen our pets figure out harder things that mirrors, but mirrors stump them. My iguana paid no attention to mirrors, but never did work out why he couldn’t eat pictures of strawberries painted on the plate.
P.S.–I may be having Facebook issues again, so I’d be obliged to anyone who shares this post on his or her FB page, just so I can see if it generates referrals.