Pigs Are One Of The Smartest Animals

Pigs? Yea! IQ studies that have been done on different animal species suggest that pigs are one of the smartest animals in the world.

What’s more, according to a study by the International Journal of Psychology, pigs can often be more cunning than dogs and are on the same intellectual level as our closest living relatives, chimpanzees.

The research project aims to give another perspective to these animals that, traditionally, are only seen as sources of meat. The project is financed by the “Farm Sanctuary” and is part of the project “Someone not Something” by the same entity.

“We have been able to prove that pigs share a series of cognitive abilities with other highly intelligent species, such as dogs, chimpanzees, elephants, dolphins and even with humans, ” said neuroscientist Lori Marino, from the University, in an interview. from Emory, and director of the “ No Human Rights Project” . “There is very important scientific evidence that suggests that we need to rethink our global relationship with them. ”

Marino and his co-author on the study, Christina Colvin, also from Emory University, came to that conclusion after completing the study on pigs and other animals. The study, which focused on determining the intelligence levels of these animals, concluded that:

• Pigs have excellent long-term memory;
• They are very good at locating objects in difficult spaces such as mazes, and they also have a good sense of orientation;
• They can understand a simple symbolic language;
• They learn complex combinations of symbols and then associate them with actions and objects;
• They perform power games to practice skills;
• They have complex social structures and learn from each other;
• Have collaborative attitudes;
• In many tests it has been shown that they can learn to manipulate a joystick to move the cursor on the screen. This is something only chimpanzees do;

• They find hidden food by following the reflection in the mirror;
• They react to emotional displays from other individuals in their social group.

The basis of the pig study

This study was carried out in order to corroborate some of the information provided by the animal protection organization PETA, on the ownership of pigs on industrial farms for human consumption. According to the organization, pigs spend most of their lives in what is known as the “gestation cage”, where the pigs can’t even manage.

Once they give birth, they are artificially fertilized again, and the cycle continues for three or four years before the mother is slaughtered to have her flesh consumed.

The PETA organization also mentioned that “ in conditions of extreme crowding, pigs are prone to stress-related behavior such as cannibalism, so farmers often cut the tails of animals and remove the ends of their teeth, all without giving painkillers . ”

Marino and his colleagues also studied the case of farm chickens, looking for evidence of the cognitive, emotional and social complexity of these animals.  These ideas may seem ridiculous to some, but that is the main point of the investigation.

Precisely, what is being tried to transform is the view that people have about animals, and instead of seeing them as simple food, they see them as sensitive beings and that, in this way, improve the conditions under which we produce our foods.

Researchers point out, furthermore, that we tend to place pigs in a lower category than animals such as dogs and cats, despite the fact that they are as or more intelligent than they are. The next investigations will revolve around other farm animals, such as cows and goats.