Pigs are among the most cognitively capable farm animals. Understanding their intelligence has direct implications for welfare standards and husbandry practices.
Pig intelligence is not merely academically interesting — it has profound welfare implications. A cognitively sophisticated animal in a barren, predictable environment experiences frustration and boredom at a level proportional to its cognitive capacity. The same intelligence that allows pigs to solve video game puzzles also allows them to experience the deprivation of barren housing more acutely than a less cognitively capable species would. Cognitive enrichment — tasks that require problem-solving for food rewards — engages pig intelligence productively and produces measurable improvements in emotional state. The pig's capacity for pessimistic cognitive bias also provides welfare scientists with a sensitive tool for detecting poor welfare states.