Research: Pigs don’t get attached like dogs

Kesyt pigs, like dogs, are sociable herd animals and can act as pets of the same type in human families.

However, a miniature pig raised as a pet does not show the child-like affection that is typical of pet dogs, Hungarian researchers have now discovered.

In order for the researchers to compare the species as reliably as possible, they recruited people who were planning to get minipigs and instructed them to raise the pigs in their family like dogs, according to a certain formula.

In attachment tests twelve young minipigs raised in this way and seventeen multi-breed pet dogs were used.

Attachment was assessed with a standardized test, which monitors whether the animal in a strange room behaves differently towards its familiar owner and a stranger. The pigs were first tested at about nine months and again at about one and a half years old, to see if the result changes during growth.

When a stranger and a familiar person moved, the dogs used to pursue only the latter when he left the room, wait for him at the door and go to meet him.

The pigs did not see such a difference on average, and it did not develop with age, the researchers say Scientific Reports -in leaf.

Result applied to the studied pigs on average, but individual differences were also observed, the researchers point out.

Some minipigs got dog-like high affection scores on the first test.

Although the same did not happen again in the next test, it may hint at the exceptional tendencies of some minipigs, the researchers say.

Published in Science in Nature 6/24