Piglets possess social learning skills and have an astonishingly good memory.

Piglets possess social learning skills and have an astonishingly good memory.Pigs are socially competent and capable of learning.Pigs are not normally thought to be especially intelligent. New research, however, has shown them to be very capable of learning and making decisions. In combination with their pronounced social competence, it can therefore be assumed that the animals may also possess social learning abilities. A new study conducted by cognitive researchers from the Messerli Research Institute of Vetmeduni Vienna has now shown that pigs do in fact possess highly developed learning abilities. The researchers demonstrated that free-ranging piglets of the New Zealand breed Kune Kune attentively observed and replicated tasks demonstrated by their mother or an aunt.The objective of the study was to demonstrate social learning through the "vertical transmission of information," i.e. the passing on of knowledge to the next generation