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New research reveals that pigs can display a remarkable level of behavioral and mental flexibility.

A study published this month in Frontiers in Psychology tested the ability of four pigs to play a simple joystick-enabled video game. The study involved two Yorkshire pigs named Hamlet and Omelette, and two Panepinto micro pigs, Ebony and Ivory.

All four animals were trained to approach and manipulate a joystick with their snouts in front of a computer monitor during the first phase of the experiment. They were then taught how to play a video game in which the goal was to move a cursor using the joystick toward up to four target walls on the screen.

Each pig performed the tasks well above chance, indicating the animals understood that the movement of the joystick was connected to the cursor on the computer screen.

The fact that these far-sighted animals with no opposable thumbs could succeed at the task is “remarkable,” according to the researchers.

Scientists already know that pigs are capable of various types of learning, from the same sort of basic obedience commands taught to dogs like “come” and “sit” to more complex behaviors that require them to change behaviors when the rules of the game change.

Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/f-psp020321.php

Featured image: Smiling pig from publicdomainpictures.net