Pigs are playful, friendly, sensitive, and intelligent animals. They’ve long been considered smarter than dogs, and the complexity of their social lives rivals those of primates. Much like people, pigs are soothed by music, love playing ball, and even enjoy getting massages.

 

 

 

1. Pigs are great communicators. 

Pigs have more than 20 different sounds for different situations, and they use their sounds to communicate with each other constantly. This means they use a specific oink, grunt, or squeal when trying to woo a mate or express hunger, for example. Most adorably, mother pigs sing to their babies while nursing.

 

2. Pigs are self-aware. 

There are only a few other animal species who have passed the “mirror test.” This test, conducted with pigs by Professor Donald Broom at Cambridge University, revealed that pigs are able to use a mirror as a tool to find food that is not otherwise visible. This means that, unlike most other animals, pigs understand that mirrors are reflections, rather than windows.

 

3. Pigs have great memories. 

 

Suzanne Held at the University of Bristol found through her research that pigs are quite good at remembering where their food is stored. The pigs in her study were able to choose their food stashes from among eight different locations. They were also able to remember which stash had smaller treats, and when given the choice, they chose to go to the stash with larger treats.