Video Game Hogs

Yorkshire pig operating the joystick. Photo: Eston Martz, Pennsylvania State University.

In a new study, pigs demonstrated remarkable mental and behavioral flexibility on a task that wasn’t designed for their species. Researchers taught four pigs to play a video game by manipulating a joystick with their snouts. The pigs’ performance, though it did not rival that of dexterous primates, shows they possessed a conceptual understanding of the task.

Read the whole story at my Animal Minds blog: Thinking Like a Pig.