A new scientific study has found that pigs can be taught to use a computer.
In the study, pigs were able to move a cursor to hit a wall on a screen and earn a treat.
Pigs have long been thought of as smarter than your average animal. But now researchers claim they have taught pigs to use a joystick, suggesting they are even cleverer than previously thought.
Pigs have already been found to be able to solve multiple-choice puzzles, and learning commands such as “sit”.
Writing in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, Dr Sarah Boysen highlight how they used tasty treats to train the pigs to move the joysticks using their snouts while watching a computer screen.
The researchers then presented the pigs with a video game. The pigs had to use the joystick to manoeuvre a cursor until it collided with one of four wall-like structures on screen. Upon collision the game made a “bloop” sound and the pig received a treat.