Intelligence of pigs

tabelmabel

tabelmabel

Adult Guinea Pig
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Out of the pigs i have had up to yet, none has astounded me with evidence of any great brains.

But Ebony is smart!

She is on 4 lots of medication per day just now. And, being a baby, she still isnt confident with handling.

My cage is 2 storey. When the pigs are bottom storey, it is impossible to catch them unless they want to be caught.

On top storey, easy.

So normally it is a simple case of rustling a bag at the top, pigs dash up and hey presto, easy to get.



Ebony seems to have worked out when her meds are due! How can this be possible?!

So at med time, she remains on the bottom. And, if she does come up at all, she sits at the top of the ramp, ready to fly down if i go near the cage.

Yet, directly after having meds, she seems to have worked out i wont be needing her for a few hours so she comes right into the top even when i am there. I can approach the cage at these times and she stays at the top. If she were a dog or cat maybe, id say she had noticed some subtle change in my body language but pigs dont do that, do they?!

It isnt like I'm approaching the cage armed with medicine bottles! I do tend to get the syringes ready and everything beforehand. Maybe she has leaned the associated sounds. That is smart though isnt it - none of my others have been that bright.


No amount of bag rustling or tasty food on top with draw her up to the top storey if meds are due.

She is one smart cookie!
 
Aww bless her! Clever little goofball, hope the meds help her :wub:

Rosie’s quite clever too, and she deliberately chooses to be a pain in the neck! The hay bags are right next to the cage, it’s not like she eats the pieces she can reach, she just plays by pulling on them. The more I say “no”, the more excited she gets about doing it..:roll:
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haha, Ebony you clever girl!

I think we definitely can't underestimate the intelligence of piggies. I would say most of mine are quite intelligent, bar one (bless him) - Thor is definitely not the sharpest of the bunch 😂 But I swear the others have everything figured out. Even my pig Stark who hates being handled will come over to be picked up if he sees me set the pop-up-run out! He just knows that means play out time, yet the rest of the time he avoids me like the plague 😂
 
LOL! I have found that pigs are quite good with knowing the time/routine. Mine get excited for food time/floor time when they hear me move around. They don't pay as much attention when they know I won't be getting them food or letting them out because it's not time for that. On the whole I think they have a decent biological clock that tells them what comes next!

Mine are also quite good at knowing who feeds them and when. They are excited to see middle child in the morning (she gives them a hay top-up) but not as much other times. One of my kids is more apt to go get them a treat and they are excited to see him at any time. My husband never feeds him and he gets no attention at all. LOL!
 
I think they learn routines quickly there was a point a little while back when the boys stopped wheeking as soon as I came downstairs. Turns out I'd been feeding them not long after the bin men had been sure enough a few minutes later bin men came and piggies started wheeking like crazy! I think they'll pick up on small details that give them an idea of what time it is.
 
Guinea pigs are a lot more intelligent than most people give them credit for. As prey animals a large amount of their intelligence is devoted to keeping safe and so because they like to hide people mistakenly think they are not very bright. As a prey species They are also adept at reading body language and an animal (including us) intent on catching them will have a different body shape and fixed gaze.

They have good long term memories of other Guinea pigs and where they fit into the social order even if they haven't seen them for a year. They are excellent at remembering their surroundings and layout, as it is important for them to know the fastest escape route to safety at all times. This is why they always appear excited when cleaned out and you change the layout of their cage, it is important for them to quickly learn exactly where everything is.

They can definitely distinguish between different people and learn routines. @tabelmabel your piggy has learned that once she has had her meds you are not going to repeatedly grab her and keeping giving her more so knows that for the rest of the time it is safe to come up to the top. Personally I never try to tempt piggies with food when I want to catch them because I want them to know that feeding time is always a safe time.

Sound is very important to guinea pigs, they communicate a lot of information to each other vocally and quickly learn what sounds in their environment mean, such as footsteps, the fridge door, plastic bags, the chopping board, our special guinea pig voices to announce the arrival of dinner, the sound of scissors cutting the grass and so on including unexpected associations such as in @Sweet Potato 's case, the sound of the bin men! In contrast sounds that are new to them will often cause them to run or freeze until they learn whether or not that sound represents something dangerous. They will also be able to learn sounds associated with the imminent arrival of meds, such as a cupboard door or box opening.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
Personally I never try to tempt piggies with food when I want to catch them because I want them to know that feeding time is always a safe time.
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That does seem very sensible now you say it but it has been working for years with every other pig we have had - one rustle of a bag and up that ramp they have all rushed:))
 
Well it was a real sleepy hollow when i looked in this morning - both pigs crashed out upstairs!

So ebony has had her anti bs and i have blocked off the bottom so she can have her pro biotics later.

Back to the vet for a check up tomorrow. She is bright as a button in herself but still rattling away with every breath. I really do hope they can get to the bottom of it and get her breathing quietly . .
 
Thanks - will let you know how she goes. I'm glad the appt is tomorrow as she is a bit quieter today. Still eating and moving about but not as as active at the hay with belle as she usually is.
 
Just wanted to add - I had a clever lass about twenty years ago. So I tried getting her to learn that she could have a treat when a bell rang. then I brought a treat when she rang the bell. Then I took the bell out of the cage because she kept ringing it and waiting for a treat. Then I tried again with a different bell (clown toy) about six months later - rang it and waited for a treat. She lived for many years and always knew that if she rang the bell then she would get a treat. Trained me beautifully!
Her friend, lovely but empty headed Magenta, would stare hard and hopefully at any bell. She wanted it to ring, knew what it meant, but couldn't manage that physical step.
I haven't tried the bell trick again. But it did convince me that there is logical thinking there.
 
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