Pigs, like all living beings, are many things — so many, in fact, that, even in humans’ conceptions and rampant exploitation of them, they are multi-faceted:
In popular culture, they appear as everything from sweet simpletons (Charlotte’s Web) to wicked tyrants (Animal Farm) to brave heroes (Babe). To pig farmers, the animal is a commodity. To truffle harvesters, pigs are reliable hunters whose keen sense of smell locates these pricey fungi. To scientists, pigs are unique as one of the only large mammals that exists, in one form or another, in every part of the world.
(Unfortunately, to scientists, pigs are also experimental subjects of choice — as we looked at earlier this week.)
Regardless of how we classify them, we must recognize two important and fundamental truths. One, pigs are not many of the things our culture has indoctrinated us to believe.
For example, did you know that, when not confined and overfed by humans, pigs are naturally lean?
Or that, far from filthy creatures who choose to dwell among dirt and mess, pigs – when given choice – are among the “cleanest animals around”, who refuse (starting at about five days-old) to potty “anywhere near their living or eating areas”? (Indeed, pig styes are human-made and literally defined as “fenced-in area[s] of mud or dirt”). When pigs do wallow in mud, an activity humans have equated with dirtiness, they do so to regulate their own body temperature (because they cannot sweat); once regulated and “[b]ecause they care about keeping clean, they then rub themselves against tree bark to clean the mud off”.
Two, pigs are so many things that our exploitative culture ignores, denies, or dismisses.
Indeed, pigs are just like humans in all ways that matter (and some that don’t!):
- Pigs are individuals with “different personality types, coping styles, temperaments, extraversion and [] levels of optimism”. Some of their personality traits even “correlate with one another in a way that mirrors human psychology”, with extroverts tending to be more optimistic and introverts tending to be more pessimistic when placed in unfamiliar environments.
- Pigs can and do smile.
- Pigs play with friends and toys, and “goof off when there’s nothing else to do”. They play-fight with one another and give chase; they “shake and carry sticks around, push balls with their noses and toss around straw”; and, when without friends or toys, “run around energetically, flop on the ground and root through the mud for fun.” They have also been taught to play video games!
- Pigs love their friends and family. In fact, few animals have been found to be “more social” than pigs, “who form close bonds”, are “very affectionate”, “greet one another enthusiastically” (“often grunting and rubbing snouts”), cuddle, and sleep close together (“often making sure to touch their friends while they drift off” and sleeping nose-to-nose). (“‘Even if pigs are kept from each other, they will sleep nose to nose through a fence, because they are so upset about not being able to be with each other.’”) They comfort and find comfort with one another – tending to be “less stressed by unexpected or challenging events when they are with a ‘friend’” and becoming “uncooperative when separated from their group” – and “behave in ways that indicate depression” when kept apart.
- Pigs dig apple-sauce.
- Pigs empathize. They understand the needs of others, are sensitive to others’ emotions (including by experiencing “emotional contagion”), and use this knowledge to help each other (such as by freeing each other when trapped)
- Pigs react differently to different kinds of music.
- Pigs are super smart (even by human-specific standards), and their cognitive abilities outrank dogs. Pigs are capable of spatial learning, one-trial learning, problem-solving, visual perspective taking, and tool use. They understand how mirrors work and recognize themselves. They have excellent memories. They can be taught how to control the temperature in their pens and have taught themselves how to “‘hack[] into someone else’s computer system’” (“pigs, who wear collars that indicate how much food they should receive from an automatic feeder, will pick up collars that have fallen off other pigs and use them to receive another portion of food for themselves”).
- Pigs are “highly motivated and extremely persistent”.
- Pigs communicate with each other in multiple ways, including with sound. Humans have identified “over 20 distinct sounds that pigs use to communicate with each other. Through different lengths and pitches of grunts and squeals, pigs can communicate a range of feelings and emotional states with each other, from happiness to arousal to pain and fear.”
- Pigs are navigators. They are able to find their way home over large distances.
- Pigs are dedicated mamas, who form strong bonds with their babies that last “long after the piglets have become adults”. Mother pigs and their babies know each other’s voices (responding specifically to them), and mother pigs sing to their babies while they’re nursing. Mother pigs “educate their young and will discipline naughty behaviour by pushing and nudging them.”
- Pigs can run fast – up 11 miles per hour! – and swim.
- Pigs strategically and proactively solve conflicts. Not only do they understand when a conflict has taken place among their group, but they determine who (i.e., which party to the conflict) they “should approach in order to best resolve the conflict”.
- Pigs remember the past and anticipate the future.
- Pigs experience – and have been taught to report to humans – anxiety. Pigs – who are “extremely sensitive to what goes on around them as well as to their environment” – have been taught “to press one level when they felt normal and another when they felt anxious. Not only could the pigs distinguish their emotional states, they were also able to retain what they had learned. In response to a stress event at a later date, they were able to again press the appropriate lever to convey their anxiety.”
- Pigs are soothed by the smell of lavender (just like rabbits and humans).
Most importantly of all, pigs — while being so many things — are not “things” at all. They are sentient beings who deserve equal consideration.
We humans must stop focusing on “what” pigs are, and start recognizing, appreciating, and honoring “who” they are: animals of this Earth who — like all others — matter in their own right and deserve to be free.