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Nature & Environment

Pigs are as intelligent as chimpanzees

By T.K. Randall
June 12, 2015 · Comment icon 33 comments

Pigs have turned out to be highly intelligent. Image Credit: sxc.hu
Scientists believe that pigs are on the same intellectual level as mankind's closest living relatives.
Despite being viewed as nothing more than a meat source most of the time, pigs are now believed to be one of the most intelligent animals on the planet.

In a new study published recently in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology, researchers determined that pigs are far more clever than we had been giving them credit for.

"We have shown that pigs share a number of cognitive capacities with other highly intelligent species such as dogs, chimpanzees, elephants, dolphins, and even humans," said co-author Lori Marino.

The research revealed that pigs possess extremely good long-term memories, are capable of learning and utilizing a symbolic language and are excellent at solving mazes.
Like other intelligent animals pigs also live in complex social communities and work well together.

During the study some pigs were even found to be able to use a mirror to find hidden food and could use a joystick to move a cursor around on a computer screen.

Sadly however, despite their cognitive abilities, most pigs these days are born in to a life that sees them exist solely to be slaughtered for their meat after a brief and cramped existence.

"There is good scientific evidence to suggest we need to rethink our overall relationship to them," said Marino.

Source: Discovery News | Comments (33)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #24 Posted by questionmark 9 years ago
well, it is kind of a weird feeling to know that you are eating something more intelligent than some of your own species....
Comment icon #25 Posted by paperdyer 9 years ago
Pigs can even dress up and know how to look fashionable. Why Miss Piggy, you look delicious, I mean beautiful today!
Comment icon #26 Posted by paperdyer 9 years ago
Alway's knew pigs are very smart. We used to raise them. They learn very fast, knew when it was feeding time and would wait until I got there. If I was more then 10 minutes late they would start fussing. Always wondered if one had a clock hidden some where. Cats do tat too. My cat would always wake my Dad up at 5 AM to be fed on the weekends because that's when she got fed during the week. She was reliable as any alarm clock. She purred while she pawed at him to get up. It was so cute, not to my Dad of course because he wanted to sleep later on the weekends.
Comment icon #27 Posted by Silent Trinity 9 years ago
Pigs are as intelligent as chimpanzees..... Just slightly less Dexterous methinks
Comment icon #28 Posted by BiffSplitkins 9 years ago
I think the reason Humans are known as Long Pigs is because we are intelligent like them. Not all humans, remember we have politicians.
Comment icon #29 Posted by WolvenHeart7 9 years ago
We're called long pigs because apparently cannibals compared our taste to them...
Comment icon #30 Posted by OgreLord 9 years ago
The perfect pet, smart and cute. Then when you get tired of them you can eat them.
Comment icon #31 Posted by legadema 9 years ago
zzzzzz.......... pigs are very tasty esp letchon....zzzz i love to eat pigss........zzzzzz
Comment icon #32 Posted by Malaria_Kidd 9 years ago
Anyone who's been around hogs knows the little dickens are very clever, have their own personalities and can be very affectionate if given the chance - they can also be mean, vindictive and destructive... Pretty much like people... The main thing that seperates them from the apes is a lack of hands... Taun, That is a very good analogy of pigs. A long time after placing my 5 star vote for UM-Bot's entry found on the Home page. Tonight I realized I should have contributed my true trucking story much earlier. It's a bit synchronous just now as "Pigs" by Pink Floyd came into play in my headphones!... [More]
Comment icon #33 Posted by Frank Merton 9 years ago
The problem as I see it here is that pork products taste better, are a little cheaper, and more nutritious and easier to prepare than beef products. Besides, beef sticks in my teeth something terrible.


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