Why Pandas Have No Vanity (PB/SSR)

Giant Pandas are one of the most well-known animals in the world. They are world famous for their trademark black and white fur. This cuddly ball of fur is quite deceiving though. A Giant Panda stands at two-three feet tall and weighs up to 250 pounds. One of the most shocking facts though is the fact that pandas do not recognize themselves in a mirror.

“The cuddly animals have failed a classic test ofself-awareness. They cannot recognize themselves in the mirror.” To me this is kind of adorable. All of this talk about pandas having no self-awareness got me thinking about what would happen if people couldn’t recognize themselves in the mirror. I started to wonder if being vain is so much a personality trait or just the fact that we are trained to have this image of ourselves—all reflected back in a mirror.

A lot of people claim to be happy with their looks, but in reality no one is ever completely satisfied with how they look. There will always be something about yourself you want to change. It might be anything from weight loss to plastic surgery. From my point of view this all stems from the fact that we are trained from a very young age to look in a mirror. We are taught to be aware of how we look—thus we compare our knowledge of ourselves to our knowledge of others.

In much the same way as people are hostile towards themselves in the mirror pandas are as well. “They displayed attacking behavior and acted as if they were threatened by their own image, scraping their feet and walking backwards.” The difference is that pandas act this way because they think it’s another panda. We are more than aware that the image in the mirror is us. I guess my whole idea was that pandas are hostile to their mirror image because they think it is another panda threatening their territory because they do not have self-awareness. Why are humans just as hostile to their image, despite knowing that it is only them?