. . . . PIGS. . . .

Do you ever wonder what pigs think about?
Or for that matter, if they think at all?
I know that they can be trained.
However, that alone does not mean that they think.
It only means that they are creatures of habit.
Over a period of time and a repeated event
they become accustomed to doing a certain thing.
It is possible that animals are smarter than people give them credit for.
Furthermore, it is possible that some animals train people
more than people train animals.
Nevertheless, the questions remains,
Do pigs think and if they do,
What do they think about?

For example, there is a pig in our neighborhood
that wanders around with the cows in the pasture, we'll call her Periwinkle.
Periwinkle is a white potbellied pig with a black spot on one side of her nose.
She limps from an old injury to her left hind quarter.
Periwinkle visits our yard daily and to check out all the food dishes
for our cats and dog. At one time we had fed our pet on the porch
but because of Periwinkle we had to start feeding them up on a table
in the back yard. To call our pets to dinner, we always rattle the food
bags and tap the food dishes on their table. Periwinkle has figured
out that this noise means food and has started showing up every time
we feed. She will munch grass around the feeding table and scavenge
any morsel of food that might drop to the ground. At first the dogs became
angry because Periwinkle was intruding on their turf. Now they ignore her.
One morning I purposely spilled a few pieces of cat food on the ground.
Periwinkle ate them up and came to the porch where she stood, tail wagging,
snout upturned and grunting softly. When I walked out onto the porch
she looked up at me, her little round snout lifted toward me sniffing
the air for the scent of food. She turned and walked back to where
I had spilled the food and grunted louder. “Come on, spill some more
of that good stuff again! Yeah, yeah, yeah!,” may have been her thoughts.
If pigs can think. Has she figured out in her little brain that I was
the one with the food and is she, in her piggy fashion, trying to
communicate that she would like more food? Maybe she thinks that
if she shows me how smart she is I will give her more food. Is she trying
to train me to spill more food?

“Come on sister don't be a tight wad, spill some grub!”
If pigs can think about things like food and how to get someone to feed
them, why isn't it possible for them to think about other things. Maybe
they think about things like “I wonder if I am dirty enough.”
Pigs may have standards too. Does she wish her tail were curlier?
Maybe she wishes she didn't have that black patch on the side of her
little turned up snout. Maybe she thinks about what it would be like
to meet other pigs or to have a boyfriend, and yet she seems content
to raom with the cows in the pasture even though she has been kicked
a time or two.
Another example is the black potbellied pig that belongs to my niece.
Her name is Missy. Missy likes very much to have her belly rubbed.
She will walk up to you and wait to be petted. When she is rubbed
on her side she will flop down and roll over to expose her underside
to be scratched and rubbed. Is she lying there mindless or are there
thoughts of joy running through her piggy brain. Maybe she is thinking
how great it feels to have her belly rubbed and that she really hopes
that you won't stop anytime soon. “Oh! Yeah! that's the spot, now over
just a little, Oh! yeah! now over to the left, Oh joy! I'm in heaven now!,”
may be the thoughts running through her head. When you stop petting,
her thought might be, "Oh! please don't stop. Just a little more, please,
please, plllllleease, do it some more."
Periwinkle, on the other hand, does not want to be touched.
I tried to pet her one day and she shied away and squealed,
as if to say, "Please don't touch me. You might ruin my mud makeup.“
Periwinkle also seems to have a favorite grass and she will pass up
all the other grasses for a small patch of it. Does it taste better?
Maybe it is sweeter like dessert. Regular grass may be like
vegetables or something else and her favorite is like pie or ice-cream.
It is my opinion that pigs do think.
They don't have to read, write or work,
so their brains aren't cluttered with unnecessary junk
and they have plenty of time to eat and lie around
while pondering many things.

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