[MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters

[Case]

[Micah]
The term "human self consciousness" is redundant. "Self consciousness" is a
human concept, that applies only to humans. Is there evidence of animals
holding concepts, independent of man?

Rhetorical question, as nothing can be shown to exist independent of humans.
Man is the measure of all things.

And that sets us apart. Let your confusion end.

[Case]
Attempts to show that man is "special" are historical, persistent and
ultimately failed. You have no more or less reason too attribute
consciousness to members of your own species than to members of another
species. There is plenty of evidence that "consciousness" is a function of
the ratio of brain to body weight and that other animals display behaviors
that we would call conscious if we saw then in homo sapiens. 

As for evidence there is Gordon Gallup's work where a dot of rouge was put
on the forehead of an anesthetized chimp. When the chimp saw it's image in
the mirror it reached to touch its own forehead to examine the dot.