To: epicure who wrote (96252 ) 2/21/2005 1:59:50 PM From: Rambi Read Replies (3) | Respond to They WERE interesting, and I am convinced that pigs are very bright as animals go. But I admit I had the same reaction to the equating with a human three year old as the earlier poster and more so after reading the study. It took six weeks of intensive training to teach the pigs the skills and it involved a lot of Pavlovian reinforcement and repetitive trials. CW at two discovered our Pacman game and was capable of understanding and playing it merely by observing us. He was reading by four without formal training, merely lots of being read to, and he took apart our first computer at 10 and Lord knows he didn't learn that from me. A human child is on a rapid developmental journey that at some point may indeed cross paths with a pig, but not for long. Pigs have probably arrived at their ultimate potential where human threes are only beginning. I find the comparison faulty in the same way I would think the fact that many animals become independent in months while our little ones are still nursing and not even sitting up is not really meaningful.
