10th November 2009

Text

New signs of pig genius

Pigs can figure out how mirrors work and use the reflected images to keep an eye on their surroundings and search for food, says a new study.

This latest finding in pig cognition is yet another sign that they learn in a manner similar to humans. Says the New York Times:

Other researchers have found that pigs are brilliant at remembering where food stores are cached and how big each stash is relative to the rest. They’ve shown that Pig A can almost instantly learn to follow Pig B when the second pig shows signs of knowing where good food is stored, and that Pig B will try to deceive the pursuing pig and throw it off the trail so that Pig B can hog its food in peace.

Pigs can also learn what the paper calls a “circus’s worth” of tricks, such as bowing, spinning, uttering wordlike sounds, herding sheep (Babe!), playing videogames with joysticks and unrolling rugs.

Tags pigsdiscoveriescognitionBabe