Experts from Hungary found that pigs rival dogs as "man's best friend" after comparing the behaviors of the two animals in an experiment that requires them to solve a problem. They found that pigs are more likely to solve the problem involving recovering food from a solvable and impossible puzzle.
According to them, pigs display a behavior similar to pooches in which they turn to humans for support unless they need to solve a problem, that's when their independent side shines through.
While pigs may not be replacing working dogs any time soon, just like 'Babe' in the 1995 movie, they do make great pets. Like dogs, they too are social animals that enjoy living groups. The development of genetically-engineered pigs has made it easier to keep at home.
Additionally, these small pigs are intelligent, and despite their reputation, they are fastidiously clean. They can live as pets for as long as 20 years and get along well with cats.
Some celebrities known to have kept pigs as pets are Mario Balotelli, David Beckham, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Megan Fox, and Paris Hilton.
Dogs vs Pigs
Ethologist Linda Gerencsér of Eötvös Loránd University and study co-author said that dogs even as puppies are known to be uniquely skilful in communicating with humans even without any specific training.
The researchers are curious whether family pigs also exhibit the same communicative signals as dogs. They also wanted to know if they spontaneously rely on humans.
'In the presence of food, both pigs and dogs oriented more towards the experimenter, they touched her more often and looked at her face more frequently,' study author and ethologist Paula Pérez Fraga, also of Eötvös Loránd explained.
The similarities of these two animals point to their similar capacities for engaging in communicative behaviors towards humans. Interestingly, though, only dogs looked up to humans when they did not expect to receive any food.
Puppies are known to look at humans when solving a puzzle to establish joint attention and initiate interactions, said Ms Pérez Fraga.
The researchers are curious whether this trait is also present in pigs. For instance, socialized wolves and cats communicate less with humans than dogs in the problem-solving context maybe because wolves are not domesticated and cats are not social species.
So, they designed an experiment to compare the behavior of dogs and a domestic and social species of pig.
Pigs Are More Likely to Solve Problems Faster Than Dogs
In their experiment called the "unsolvable task paradigm," the animal first faces a problem that he can solve like the easy-to-open box with food inside. After some trials, the problem becomes unsolvable because the box is securely closed.
According to Dr Gerencsér, both dogs and pigs displayed similar behavior when the box was without food. However, when they put food in the box, the two animals did not act the same way in opening the box.
Pigs were faster than dogs in solving the puzzle and getting the food, and perhaps it's because of their manipulative capacities.
When the task became unsolvable, dogs turned to humans more than before, while pigs were more persistent and performed less human-oriented behaviors. The pig's behavior indicates their predisposition in solving problems independently.
The full findings of their study are published in Animal Cognition.
