Social awareness in monkeys

Tests of self-awareness in nonhuman primates have to date been concerned al most entirely with the recognition of an animal's reflection in a mirror. B y contrast, we know much less about non-human primates' perception of their place within a social network, or of their understanding of themselves as individuals with unique sets of social relationships. Here we review eviden ce that monkeys who fail the mirror test may nonetheless behave as if they recognize themselves as distinct individuals, each of whom occupies a uniqu e place in society and has a specific set of relations with others. A free- ranging vervet monkey, baboon, or macaque recognizes other members of his g roup as individuals. He also recognizes matrilineal kin groups, linear domi nance rank orders, and behaves as if he recognizes his own unique place wit hin them. This sense of "social self" in monkeys, however, is markedly diff erent from self-awareness in humans. Although monkeys may behave in ways th at accurately place themselves within a social network, they are unaware of the knowledge that allows them to do so: they do not know what they know, cannot reflect on what they know, and cannot become the object of their own attention.