Are Pigs Smart?
My wife and I have an animal sanctuary. We take in (or used to take in) dogs, cats, horses, and pigs. Yes, pigs. In fact, at one time we had fifty-five animals and more than thirty of them were pigs. Because of this, my wife and I often get asked are pigs smart?
The answer is simple. Yes. Amazingly smart.
Many sites list pigs as the third smartest animal, only trailing chimps and dolphins. This site which lists the 25 smartest animals, places pigs in second place, behind chimps. Here’s some of what they had to say.
According to research, a middle aged pig can be as smart as a three-year-old human being and pigs know how to adapt to complex environmental situations because they have the ability to learn new skills easily.
Whether they’re second or third or fourth doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re smart. We have interfaced with pigs for 25 years, so our experience is first hand and I can vouch for what they said. Pigs learn new skills easily and quickly.
We have dogs, cats, horses, and pigs on our sanctuary, and I can tell you out of those four, pigs are by far the smartest.
The First Answer to Are Pigs Smart?
Twenty-five years ago, my wife wanted to rescue a pig who needed help. She was only five weeks old and had been attacked by several dogs which resulted in part of her ear being bitten off. We brought her home, which at that time, was a normal home in a suburbun area outside Houston, and we soon grew enamored with her.
It only took us three days to housetrain her, using grapes as her reward for going outside to do her business. A few weeks after that, she was bossing our three dogs, getting them to do her bidding. This became apparent when we caught one of our Australian Shepherds climbing onto the bread drawer which Shinobi (the pig) had opened with her nose, then yanking out food for them to share.
I might have written this off if it had been a one-time event, but after three or four times, we had to install child locks on the cabinets so Shinobi couln’t open them.
The Second Answer to Are Pigs Smart?
Pigs have a lot of bristly hair, and it grows thick during the winter months, then they lose it in spring. The first spring, when Shinobi was losing her hair, she began lying next to a cage where we kept two prairie dogs. I soon saw why. Whenever Shinobi lay there, the prairie dogs would yank her hair out and use the thick bristles to build a house. It was a win/win situation. I never did figure out how Shinobi knew to do that though.
After having Shinobi for about two years, we decided we enjoyed animal rescue and wanted to do more. We looked for property and found about 15 acres close by us and also close to hospitals, which was a consideration because I had already developed some heart problems.
We settled into the new place, and it wasn’t long before we began accumulating more pigs, dogs, and others. And it wasn’t long after that before we realized that the pigs were running the show. They influenced the dogs, the cats, and even the horse into doing what they wanted.
Along Came Dennis
About fifteen years into our venture, an approximately two-week-old wild boar wandered onto our property. The dogs almost killed him, but I managed to save him, then we took him to the vet, who advised us that the boar had broken ribs and internal bleeding and likely wouldn’t make it. My wife was of a different mind, so we took the boar home and tended to him. Within a month, he was in good shape.
At first, I was concerned about him as he was a wild boar (not a feral pig), and I wondered if he could be tamed. Dennis (what we named him) turned out to be beyond my expectations. He proved to be every bit as smart as the other pigs, if not more resourceful.
I fed the pigs out back every day, and after feeding them, I had to walk through a locked gate to get to Dennis. My hands were usually full, so I worked on training him to open the gate (with my help). Within a week after that, he was opening it on his own and venturing off into the section of the property where he wasn’t allowed. Below is a video of him opening the gate.
He got so good at opening the gate that he was doing it every day. He forced me to find another way to lock it.
If that didn’t impress me enough, a few months later, he did. Dennis likes to have a “house” when it gets cold, so in late fall, I got a couple of bales of straw, some branches, and a few other odds and ends and threw them over the fence for him to use. I wasn’t expecting much but once again, he surprised me. Below are before and after pictures of what Dennis built.
Even after witnessing that, I wasn’t convinced of how elaborate his house-building could be, not until the following year. I witnessed him gathering large branches with leaves from the woods, then bringing them back to the barn where he soaked them for about ten minutes in his small “pool.” He then took them out of the pool and into the house he was building. Here is a picture below. I have videos which I plan on uploading to YouTube but I haven’t done that yet.
I could go on and on with stories that answer questions of are pigs smart? But take my word for it. They’re pretty amazing. And it’s not just intelligence. They’re emotional, with feelings. I didn’t realize this until I witnessed a mother pig mourn the loss of one of her babies. For two solid days, she lay by the spot where we had buried her baby. She wouldn’t go to the barn at night, and she wouldn’t even come to eat.
So when the question of how smart are pigs? comes up, I have no problem answering. Damn smart.
By the way, if you want more stories of the animals from the sanctuary, pick up one of the books.
You can read more about Dennis here.
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Giacomo Giammatteo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes nonfiction books including the No Mistakes Careers series as well as books about grammar, publishing., and children’s fiction and nonfiction.
When Giacomo isn’t writing, he’s helping his wife take care of the animals on their sanctuary. At
last count, they had forty animals—seven dogs, one horse, six cats, and twenty-five pigs.
Oh, and one crazy—and very large—wild boar, who used to take walks with Giacomo every day.
He lives in Texas where he and his wife have an animal sanctuary with forty-five loving “friends.”
