Miniature pigs’ response to human pointing gestures

The article presents the results of an experiment investigating the response of miniature pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) to human pointing gestures. The relevance of this study is grounded in the fact that miniature pigs are emerging as a promising new type of companion animals, and studying their ability for interspecies communication with humans is a crucial step in understanding their cognitive abilities. Additionally, miniature pigs are widely used as a model species in biomedical research due to their physiological similarity to humans. Successful housing of these animals in laboratories and the development of species-specific experimental conditions require a deep under- standing of their behavioral traits. The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that miniature pigs can interpret pointing gestures without prior training. The experiment involved 35 pigs, which were tested using various types of gestures (proximal dynamic-sustained pointing, pointing by touching), demonstrated by both famil- iar and unfamiliar humans. The main results showed that most animals did not exhibit a significant response to the gestures; however, a small proportion of pigs (14.29%) demonstrated success rates above 80%, and 2.86% achieved success rates over 90%. These findings are consistent with previous research and support the conclusion that only a minority of individuals possess advanced cognitive abilities.