【研究】ブタはチンパンジーやイルカ並みに高い知能…食肉用動物としての扱いを再考する必要がある

2015/06/14
 
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「ブタはチンパンジー並みに高い知能を持っている」とする研究報告を、米国エモニー大学の神経科学者ロリ・マリノ氏らが発表した。論文は国際学術誌「比較心理学」に掲載された。食肉用動物であるブタの扱いに一石を投じる内容となっている。

マリノ氏と動物の権利団体「ノンヒューマン・ライツ・プロジェクト」の声明:「我々の研究は、ブタの認知能力が、イヌ、チンパンジー、ゾウ、イルカ、そしてヒトなど、高い知能を持っている他の動物と並んでいることを示すものです。人間とブタとの付き合い方を再考する必要があることを示唆する科学的根拠があるということです」

研究によると、ブタの知能の高さを示す能力として、以下のようなものがある。

・優れた長期記憶を持っている。
・迷路など、物体の位置把握が必要なテストが得意。
・簡単な象徴言語を理解できる。
・行動や物体に関係する記号の複雑な組み合わせを学習することができる。
・他の個体と遊んだり、イヌのように擬似的な喧嘩をすることを好む。
・複雑な社会生活を営み、集団の他の個体を識別し、お互いに学習し合う。
・他の個体との共同作業を行なう。
・ジョイスティックを操作して画面上のカーソルを動かすことができる(チンパンジーと共通の能力)。
・鏡を使用して、隠された食物を見つける。
・他の個体への共感を見せる。
 

IQ Tests Suggest Pigs Are Smart as Dogs, Chimps

JUN 11, 2015 11:39 AM
 
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Pigs can often outsmart dogs and are on about the same intellectual level as our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, according to a new paper.

The research project, described in a paper published in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology, aims to put a face on animals that are traditionally just viewed as sources of meat.

“We have shown that pigs share a number of cognitive capacities with other highly intelligent species such as dogs, chimpanzees, elephants, dolphins, and even humans,” neuroscientist Lori Marino of Emory University and The Nonhuman Rights Project said in a press release. “There is good scientific evidence to suggest we need to rethink our overall relationship to them.”

Top 10 Most Intelligent Animals

Marino and co-author Christina Colvin, also from Emory, came to that conclusion after reviewing dozens of studies conducted on pigs and other animals. Often studies on cognition and behavior focus on only a single characteristic, so the researchers in this case compiled the findings into a single document.

They found that pigs:

• have excellent long-term memories

• are whizzes with mazes and other tests requiring location of objects

• can comprehend a simple symbolic language and can learn complex combinations of symbols for actions and objects

• love to play and engage in mock fighting with each other, similar to play in dogs and other mammals

• live in complex social communities where they keep track of individuals and learn from one another

• cooperate with one another

• can manipulate a joystick to move an on-screen cursor, a capacity they share with chimpanzees

• can use a mirror to find hidden food

• exhibit a form of empathy when witnessing the same emotion in another individual

Contrast these abilities with the way that pigs are often treated in factory farms. PETA reports that mother pigs (sows) spend most of their lives in what are known as “gestation crates,” which do not even allow the pigs to turn around. Once they give birth, they are impregnated again, with the cycle continuing for three or four years before the mother is slaughtered.

PETA goes on to mention that “in extremely crowded conditions, piglets are prone to stress-related behavior such as cannibalism and tail-biting, so farmers often chop off piglets’ tails and use pliers to break off the ends of their teeth–without giving them any painkillers.”

Animal Planet: Pig Genius

Marino, who is a vegan, and her colleagues have also studied chickens, finding evidence for cognitive, emotional and social complexity. Such ideas might seem laughable to some, but that’s the point — our view of these animals tends to be that they are tasty yet non-sentient beings, only good for consumption. The reality is far from that view, according to this and other studies.

The researchers further note that we tend to put pigs in a lesser category than animals like dogs and cats, even though studies show pigs are just as intelligent and empathetic — perhaps even more so — than such pets.

The scientists next plan to study other factory-farmed animals, such as cows and goats. The research is made possible by grant money from Farm Sanctuary’s The Someone Project, created to raise the public’s understanding of farm animal intelligence and behavior.

Photo: Pig. Credit: pixabay

参照元 : OD NEWS