Candice Croney, Author provided (no reuse)īut there are limits to what they can do. They can, for instance, learn to respond differently to different sounds, and are masters at spatial learning tasks.Ĭlever pig. They show remarkable intelligence in a number of complex cognitive tasks. This new study fits well with what we already know about pigs. This may be because moving around a joystick with your snout is a lot harder than with opposable thumbs, or because the pigs are just not as good at the task as primates. They couldn’t even compete with the monkeys for which the task was originally designed. The four pigs tested were all able to do that to some extent, showing off their smarts.Īs the researchers upped the difficulty in the task, sending them to new “levels”, the pigs weren’t ready to compete with the kids in Mario Kart just yet.

The animals need to understand the link between moving around a joystick and what’s happening on a computer screen, and then link what’s happening on the screen to getting a reward. In a new study, researchers from Purdue University in Indiana, US have shown that pigs can use a digital screen and joystick, operated by their snout, to move a cursor around for rewards.

Pigs might not be able to fly, but they can play video games.

Standard work pig game