Livestock

Pig Intelligence: What Pigs Know and Feel

Pigs rank among the most cognitively sophisticated non-human animals, with cognitive abilities comparable to young children and dogs.

Key Facts

Pigs can learn their names and respond to calls from specific people
They show spatial learning, remember locations across years, and can navigate mazes
Pigs demonstrate empathy, comforting distressed companions with contact
They play, use tools in some contexts, and manipulate conspecifics through deception
Research shows pigs develop optimistic or pessimistic cognitive biases based on their welfare state

Welfare Considerations

The cognitive bias research on pigs is particularly powerful for welfare assessment: pigs in poor welfare conditions develop pessimistic cognitive biases measurable in decision tasks. This provides an objective, validated measure of psychological state that connects welfare conditions to subjective experience. A pig in a gestation crate does not just lack movement; it develops a pessimistic outlook equivalent to clinical depression in humans.

What You Can Do

Share pig intelligence research with people who underestimate their cognitive complexity
Support research into pig cognition and welfare science
Reduce pork consumption given documented cognitive complexity and welfare problems
Advocate for gestation crate bans using pig cognition as a welfare argument
Donate to Animal Charity Evaluators recommended farm animal welfare organizations