Plants Are Self-Aware

Almost a year ago, scientists from Goethe University in Frankfurt showed that magpies are self-aware (check out the video below), that one knows the creature it sees in the mirror is itself, not another bird. That discovery was big news, as self-awareness was thought to be a special trait found only in higher-order primates. But now there is even bigger—and stranger—news: self-aware plants. That is the claim of Richard Karban, professor in the Entomology department at UC-Davis. He states that, “Plants engage in self-recognition and can communicate danger to their “clones” or genetically identical cuttings planted nearby.” The research, published in Ecology Letters, would be the first suggestion of this kind, that plants are fully aware of themselves and look out for their own kind.  

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