For this question to resolve positively, the following has to be done:

1. An individual animal has to be conditioned (trained) in some way so that its behavior is in some testable way different from that of its peers.

2. Its brain is scanned (possibly destructively).

3. The scanned brain is simulated on a computer.

4. The simulated brain exhibits the behavior that the original animal learned in step 1.

The animal can be however primitive, the only restriction being its ability to be trained.

The result has to be published in a peer reviewed journal. If by the time this happens, the academic culture changes enough to accept some other type of validation, it will also be acceptable.

I will not bet on this question.