By challenging harmful stereotypes and our commodification of these social, creative beings, we can begin to look toward a brighter future that treats animals of all species with more respect, regardless of their intellectual capacities.
Many of us who live in the United States haven’t had the opportunity to meet a pig, other than in the form of a food ingredient on our plates. While we form intimate, bonded relationships with cats, dogs, and other companion animals, we often fail to recognize that animals raised for food display many of those same loveable traits as our furry best friends. Pigs, like the cats and dogs we share our homes with, are very intelligent, communicative, and emotional beings, so it begs the question: why eat one and love the other?
Are Pigs Intelligent?
Decades of research on pigs has found that pigs are highly
intelligent beings. In clinical trials, they have been shown to have
abstract thoughts, use tools, recognize their own names, dream, and
follow commands. Other tests have revealed that pigs can play video
games and even differentiate between drawings they made over other
pigs’ artwork!
Interestingly, we share about 98% of our DNA with pigs, compared to
only 90% in cats and 82% in dogs. This makes us about as closely
related to pigs as to chimpanzees, who also share 98% of our DNA.
This similarity in DNA explains why pigs are often used as human
surrogates in the medical industry—whether as models in medical and
scientific research, or for use in medical training programs, due to
their anatomical similarities to humans.
Do Pigs Have Emotions?
Anyone who has spent time around a pig knows that they are able to
communicate their feelings fairly clearly. We know they are happy
when they ask for belly rubs by flopping over at your feet, we know
they are in distress when they squeal and show aversion to a
subject. Multiple studies confirm that pigs are able to feel and
express many of the same emotions that humans do, such as happiness,
anxiety, stress, joy, fear, and anger. They can form complex
relationships and bonds with other pigs, often developing
friendships that can last a lifetime, and showing signs of grief
when close friends or family members die. Pigs are highly social
animals, but that doesn’t mean they all get along equally. In fact,
introducing new pigs to a sounder, or group of pigs, often results
in fights, not only because pigs can differentiate other pigs from
one another, but because they also form complex interpersonal
relationships and can be wary of new pigs who may disrupt these pre
existing hierarchies.
How Intelligent Are Pigs?
Are Pigs More Intelligent Than Dogs?
Research shows that pigs are at least as intelligent as dogs, and in
many cases even outperform dogs on tests of cognition, memory, and
other measures of intelligence. For example, not only can pigs be
taught how to fetch like dogs, they can also differentiate between
objects, for example a ball vs. a frisbee. In fact, when it comes to
problem-solving, pigs far outperform dogs.
Pigs are also similar to dogs in that they love to be around humans,
and will often turn to humans first for emotional support.
How smart are pigs in human years?
Pigs have been found to outperform three-year-old human children on
tests that measure cognitive skills. At three years old, a human
child is focused on learning and exploring, enjoys playing, and
shows self-awareness. This is also the case for pigs which
demonstrate distinct likes and dislikes, enjoy playing creatively,
and display a range of emotions similar to those of a child. Due to
these shared capacities, pigs have been compared cognitively to
three-year old humans when it comes to measuring intelligence based
on human standards.
Why do we love one and eat the other?
Talk with anyone who has interacted with pigs at a farmed animal
sanctuary, and you’re sure to hear tales of escape artists,
charmers, belly-rub enthusiasts, and pigs with serious sass. They’ll
be sure to mention their big personalities and vast intelligence and
problem-solving abilities that pigs have. In the developed world,
however, the vast majority of these intelligent, feeling individuals
spend their entire lives intensely confined in factory farms. Why is
this so, especially now that we know that pigs share many of the
same loveable traits that cats and dogs do?
The species that we choose to eat are based on our complex social
and cultural histories with different animals, and the lines between
animals considered “food” vs. “friends” are arbitrary. The invisible
forces of the societies we grow up in have conditioned us to believe
that some animals are “food” while others are “friends.” This
societal normalization of consuming some animals but not others is
referred to by Dr. Melanie Joy as “Carnism.” We can see these social
forces at play very clearly when we put different cultures in
conversation with one another. Consider that different cultures draw
very different lines when it comes to which animals are included in
the “edible” category, especially juxtaposed with those species who
may be considered “friends” by another culture. For example, people
in the U.S. typically consume cows, while in many parts of India,
cows are viewed as sacred beings and are even afforded legal
protection under some jurisdictions’ laws. Guinea pigs are often
considered “pets” in the U.S., but are consumed by some indigenous
Peruvians, and have more recently become regarded as a delicacy.
What makes pigs smart?
Cognition
Animals exhibit cognition if they have the ability to learn from
their past experiences, think through problems, and make informed
decisions about their future. Studies that have sought to measure
pigs’ cognitive abilities have revealed that they understand the
passage of time, can distinguish between various objects, and use
memory and the knowledge of past experience to inform their
decisions. They have a concept of both the future and the past, and
show self-awareness.
Communication
Pigs are highly communicative, and if you have ever met a pig you
have likely discovered this very quickly. In studies that look at
pig grunts, it was found that not only do pigs communicate in a
variety of “tones” to signify different situations and emotions to
one another, they also may be more or less “talkative” based on
their personality. Pigs use acoustic signals in a variety of
contexts, for example in maintaining contact with other group
members while foraging, in parent–offspring communication, and when
they are distressed. In some cases, it has even been found that
mother pigs will “sing” to their young much like some human mothers
do.
Memory
It has been proven that pigs have memory skills similar to our own,
meaning that they can easily keep track of everything that happens
around them for a long period of time after it happened. Pigs are
able to discriminate between objects, and tend to prefer new, novel
objects to those that are familiar to them. Studies that looked at
pigs’ ability to remember situations have found that not only can
they remember experiences, but they can also prioritize important
information from memory. For example, in one study, they were able
to remember which food site had more food, and used memories of food
odors and color cues to navigate, using spatial features for
reference, to the preferred site.
Their memories also allow them to have a concept of time, with one
study showing that when given an option between crates with
differing length of confinement, pigs remember which crates would
result in their being confined for longer, and preferred crates that
resulted in a shorter period of confinement.
Pigs are Empathetic
Pigs possess what is called emotional contagion, or the expression
of an emotion after seeing that emotion expressed in others. This
ability is thought to be the basis of empathy, as it demonstrates
that someone can recognize emotions in others, and be affected by
that emotion.
While it can be challenging to study and interpret emotions,
especially in other species, the emotional experiences of pigs can
be clearly seen in their play, fear and stress responses, and their
sensitivity to the emotions of their companions.
Pigs are one of the cleanest animals
Despite the stereotype of pigs being dirty, covered in mud, or
living in “pig styes,” pigs are actually considered to be the
cleanest of all farmed animals. Pigs can smell odors as far as 5-7
miles away, and about 25 feet under the ground, and their keen sense
of smell may be one reason why when given enough space, they keep
their sleeping and eating areas meticulously clean. Some pigs have
even been known to decorate their living areas with flowers and
other found items.
Pigs are Very social
Multiple studies have shown that pigs not only have distinct
personalities, but also that they form strong bonds with others. One
only has to spend a short amount of time with pigs to realize that
they are unique individuals with differing temperaments,
personalities, and social groups! Maternal bonds are particularly
strong, with many mothers preferring to stay with their young even
after their young are grown. Pigs will often sleep in the same space
as their families or friends, and can form lifelong bonds with other
pigs. Pigs also form social hierarchies, and introducing a new pig
to an existing group will often lead to fights as the new
hierarchies and orders of dominance are established.
Problem-Solving Skills
Pigs have been found to be able to problem-solve better than most
other animals, and are highly capable of solving problems
independently. While dogs, when presented with a problem, will turn
to humans for assistance, pigs will ignore humans in lieu of
figuring out the problem on their own. They might even use tools or
memory to assist them in their problem solving.
They Feel Pain and Suffer
As pain is a subjective, personal experience, attempts to
objectively measure it scientifically in animals other than humans
are particularly challenging. That being said, there are a few cues
we can look for, including vocalizations, escape or avoidance
behavior, and anatomical similarities to humans. In studies of the
effect of various agricultural practices on pigs, it was found that
many of the standard practices used in the pork industry cause acute
pain, and researchers concluded that pain management (in the form of
different techniques or providing pain relief such as anesthesia)
should be a requirement. Examples of painful procedures include
castration, tail docking, and removal of teeth (all performed
without anesthesia for pain relief), all of which are standard
practices in the pork industry. Injuries and disease are also common
sources of pain for pigs in the pork industry.
A study from Brazil that interviewed 44 pig farmers also found that
all 44 believed their pigs could feel pain and suffer.
Tool use
Studies have found that pigs, like many other vertebrates, have the
ability to use tools. Tool-use is commonly seen as a sign of higher
intelligence in nonhuman animals. From using bark to dig, to
understanding how video games work by moving joysticks and seeing
the effects on a screen, pigs have demonstrated their ability to
problem solve and accomplish tasks through the use of various
objects.
Pig Intelligence Facts
Pigs:
Does Intelligence Matter?
Even if pigs didn’t possess such impressive cognitive abilities, we
would still need to ask ourselves if the lack of certain types of
intelligence justifies the horrific treatment and fate as food
products that we subject them to. Consider the example of human
toddlers, whose intellectual abilities fall below that of many other
animal species, including pigs in many cases. Should we discriminate
against them because of their intellectual abilities alone, or are
there more meaningful measures to use instead to determine their
treatment? The renowned philosopher Jeremy Bentham suggested that
suffering might be a more appropriate measure to consider when
thinking about how we treat other beings, reasoning “The question is
not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”
It’s also important to keep in mind that there are many forms of
intelligence, and comparing intelligence across species is not only
incredibly difficult, but can also be problematic in multiple ways.
For example, consider the many species of birds who can navigate
thousands of miles every year to find a specific tree or nesting
ground by using a variety of different cues, including the earth’s
magnetic fields. Cows develop friendships and can identify and
navigate to sources of water in their environment. Many types of
fish communicate in complex ways using their fins, subtle movements,
and low-frequency sounds that humans are unable to hear. All of
these abilities perhaps supersede human capabilities, yet are not
often thought of as signs of intelligence due to our using human
intelligence as the bar to which we compare all other animals.
Conclusion
While we often think of pigs as being dirty, lazy, or unintelligent,
these stereotypes couldn’t be further from the truth. Pigs are
social, unique, resourceful, and voracious animals, with the ability
to feel pain, empathize with one another, form lifelong friendships,
experience joy, and in most cases, love a good belly scratch.
Knowing what we now know about pigs, it is important to consider how
our categorization of pigs as commodities impacts their treatment in
factory farms, use in the medical and scientific communities, and
dismissal as simply ingredients on our plates. By challenging these
harmful stereotypes and our commodification of these social,
creative beings, we can begin to look toward a brighter future that
treats animals of all species with more respect, regardless of their
intellectual capacities. After all, every species has unique
capabilities that are worth celebrating!
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factory farming on humans, animals, and the environment.