 The findings show that magpies respond in the mirror test in a manner similar to apes, dolphins, killer whales, pigs and elephants.This is a remarkable capability that, although not fully concrete in its determination of self-recognition, is at least a prerequisite of self-recognition.This is not only of interest regarding the convergent evolution of social intelligence, it is also valuable for an understanding of the general principles that govern cognitive evolution and their underlying neural mechanisms.