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I love baby pigs and pigs are very smart..much smarter than dogs....I like grown pigs too but they would be hard to keep as a pet in an apartment

Pigs are bloody smart. I saw a clip about a pig in Texas that had taught itself how to herd sheep just by watching the dogs do it. Unfortunately for them, they've been cursed with a metabolism that is about the most efficient converters of protein into flesh in the shortest time of all farm animals. To capitalize on this virtue farmers pen them up into little cubicles, feed them copious amounts of food and make them ready for slaughter in record time. Their innate intelligence doesn't seem to come into the equation when there are $ on the table.

I know and its sad to think that animals are so smart and we EAT them.

Very interesting article. It reminds me of when we had a puppy who was about 10 weeks old. We put a floor length rolling mirror in our room and when she saw herself in it, she stopped, barked, and ran to look behind it for the other puppy. It was so funny!

The most I've ever seen dogs or cats do, though, is get used to the images and ignore them, not use them for problem solving or information.

I feel guilty for being a carnivore.

Don't feel too quilty Prishaff, pigs are raised to be eaten they would probably not exist if not for being a food source for humans. Same is true for most of the livestock raised. Cute, intelligent or not their existence is controlled by humans so it is a mixed bag, no existence for them or use as food for another species. We have used our intelligence to breed the species we find most edible and created circumstances that are totally under our control rather than chasing them down in the wild and spearing them . But we are carnivores and meat has helped us become a healthier more prosperous society. Maybe we have reached the point in our development where we can create food sources that substitute other foods for meat but I question that mankind is or will ever be ready to give up this source of protein and so the existnece of cows and pigs are probably assured for a long time to come.

I'm not a carnivore. I haven't eaten meat for 33 years and don't miss it a bit. I think animals that are used for food would still exist even if they weren't being eaten. There are plenty of animal lovers who would keep them as pets. I disagree that meat has made us a healthier, more prosperous society. I think we would be a lot better off if we recognized that killing animals is not necessary. My husband and I were both vegetarian when we met, and raised five vegetarian children. My personal belief is that you have to suspend your natural compassion for other living things in order to kill them (or have someone kill them for you). I prefer to nurture my compassion in the hope that the world will be a less violent place.

It is an interesting thought that I have pondered a lot myself...in the food chain, some animals are themselves carnivores..so I do not know.....I eat chicken and fish but sometimes but I often only eat veggies

Veggiedoc, have you read Cleve Backster's work? i have, and heard him speak. Removed any moral compunctions about the little meat i do eat these days---because if one is a vegetarian for moral not nutritional reasons--then one should limit what veggies one eats too. Fruit that you harvest when its so ripe a touch seperates from tree or bush might be ok morally since it's essentially actively dying at that point anyway.

All life consumes other life in the process of living. The thing is not to waste it and to appreciate the nutrients it provides. While every BODY is literally different, we would not be able to process meat at all if we weren't designed to consume it. The smart person, learns their body's needs and recognises those needs may change over time. i have developed food intolerances that make a healthy diet a challenge. But i've learned what my current needs and no-nos are.

Pam--we're the only animal that gives it a second thought, but i suspect we're the only one that consciously wastes food too.

I feel guilty too about being a carnivore. I wish I had adopted the vegetarian way of life early in my life, but you know how it is, social conditioning and how I was brought up, fed and what my tastes are. Its hard to change. But God only knows how horrible I feel sometimes. When I see programs about how animals are treated it makes me angry, sick and I just would love to strangle some of those mean and cruel people who inflict pain and suffering on an innocent animal. There are humane ways and it is very disturbing to see when humane ways are abused or abandoned.

One time, my cousins down south were bragging about what fun they had killing and roasting a pig. I was pissed off at them for days. They told me that pigs have no feelings and that they are here for our consumption. I told them God forgive you, hopefully you will never know what its like to be the lower species on the food chain.