But a “cat” is not a cat, it is a “cat” only to us - a random other species; to a cat itself, a cat is “hey it’s me!”. On a related note, a black “cat” doesn’t know it’s black or that it brings bad luck - it simply enjoys it’s life of a…cough*…“cat” while clearly seeing it as just another human construction.

A cat definitely knows its a cat. And it knows I’m some dumb hairless ape who will bend to its every whim if it occasionally flops on the floor and looks cute.

Animals do categorise other beings even ones within the same group. They just dont have a specific language to turn that into words.

Just based on my experience with my very anxious dog, they definitely know the difference between dogs and breeds of dogs, humans, and other animals. Like my dog is noticeably calmer around other women but gets more nervous around kids and men. He goes to dog daycare every other day and will only voluntarily play with dogs of a similar size as him (a cocker spaniel) and he always avoids larger dogs but also seems to dislike playing with smaller dogs for whatever reason.

Birds seem to know what they are.

The ducks we have will kinda hang around the other ducks they were duckling with even when incorporated into the main flock.

The geese we have on the farm, I think at least two varieties, keep themselves split by breed even though they were all goslings at the same time kept in the same brooder pen when they were tiny.

I wonder if its a difference between animals that are more solitary in nature versus animals that tend to herd/flock?