How providing cognitive challenges for pigs meets their exceptional intelligence needs and improves welfare outcomes in commercial settings.
Pigs are among the most cognitively gifted farm animals, yet are typically kept in environments that provide almost no intellectual stimulation. This mismatch between cognitive capacity and environmental complexity creates welfare deficits analogous to keeping a highly intelligent dog in a bare concrete kennel. Cognitive enrichment - puzzle feeders, novel objects, foraging challenges - engages pig intelligence and reduces the frustration, aggression, and stereotypic behaviors that result from barren environments. The remarkable cognitive flexibility of pigs means that effective enrichment must be varied and regularly renewed.