I have always read about the amazing intelligence of pigs. But what do they do that amazes people? Because they roll in mud? Why is that special? I love animals and believe in their intelligence. But what makes pigs special?
In: Biology
I have seen a couple of videos that are similar, but here’s a pig saving a drowning goat. Empathy indicates intelligence to me anyway.
Have you read Animal Farm?
They can pass a mirror test. The mirror test is a test of self awareness, whether they can conceptualize themselves in the abstract.
You put a dot on a toddler’s forehead and show them a mirror. They may not be able to identify that this is an image of them, that the dot on the forehead of the toddler in the image is actually on them, they may not try to wipe it off.
Pigs, ravens, chimps, elephants, dolphins etc. can pass a mirror test.
Edit: googled for more info after posting. They can’t pass a mirror test. They can use mirrors to find food but they can’t use mirrors to understand themselves.
They behave similarly to dogs as in can learn words and commands and pass the mirror test. They can play video games. They are also as socially complex as many other highly intelligent animals as evidenced by their social structure, keen ability to discriminate among individuals (both pigs and humans), and apparent awareness of the mindset of others
Well, one of them convinced a spider to act as a publicist, and Paul Lynde to gather her source material.
Pigs can do pretty much anything dogs can do in terms of memory and cognition. Most people consider dogs to be pretty smart animals. Pigs have different personalities, enjoy spending time with specific people they care for, can be trained to perform a wide variety of tasks, exhibit very similar emotions to people, etc. I don’t think there is any official scientific consensus of where other animals intelligence ranks but if there was pigs would be pretty high.
If you lived in a 6×8’ mud pit, where would you roll around?
As a side note, they don’t roll in mud too often unless they are crammed in farm style fenced areas. If a pig is on a big farm as a pet, they wander* around like a normal dog/pet. Like a dog, they roll in mud sometimes for fun and like to get dirty, but they are not the filthy animals people think they are. Imagine 1000 dogs on a farm, and it would be pretty dirty areas too.
> Because they roll in mud?
When you have such a shallow understanding of things, this is when you need to educate yourself more.
Pigs can learn a ton. I did nutrition research with pigs and I had mine trained to turn corners on command and enter and exit their pen/rooms/hallways via command when it was sample days.
The best way to explain pigs is that they are giant toddlers that are very inquisitive, observant, love to play/explore, at times stubborn, and definitely have opinions. They also pick up routine super easily, heaven help my ears if dinner time was late. They can also be super sweet. I had one pig who stood on his hind legs in the corner of his pen every morning to get ear scritches while I let him nibble on my coverall buttons and I had another that loved rump scratches. Ultimately they are giant dogs with a little more oomph
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