A team of researchers at Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary, have analysed the differences between how dogs and pigs communicate with humans.
Dogs and miniature pigs are both social, domesticated animals, but while it is known that dogs will look to humans - by barking or gazing for help - when solving a problem there had been no study of how pigs behave in similar situations (see the video).
The team found that, in normal circumstances, both animals interacted with humans in a similar way, but when faced with an unsolvable problem, pigs were ‘more persistent than dogs in trying to solve the task, which may reflect their predisposition to solve problems independently,’ said researcher Paula Perez.