"Mike Mendl, Professor of animal behavior and welfare at Bristol University, and Suzanne Held have been conducting research into a pig's capacity to understand another pig. They have found that pigs might be able to tell what other pigs are thinking. With their colleague Richard Byrne of St. Andrews University, they set up an experiment in which they blocked a subject pig's view of where food was being placed. On either side of the pig were two companion pigs, one whose view was also blocked and one who had a clear view of the food. The subject pig was not able to see what the other pigs could see. When the researchers removed the barriers and the companion pigs were released, the subject pig did, in fact, follow the companion pig who had seen where he food was placed rather than the one who had not. The study suggests that it is possible that a pig can understand what another pig sees. This is referred to as visual perspective taking and is an indication of complex cognition." (Amy Hatkoff, The Inner World of Farm Animals [Steward, Tabori & Chang, New York, 2009], p. 72. Identification of Bailey, pp. 99-100.)
I don't think the experiment, if the summary is accurate, could demonstrate the finding, which is presented as indication that pigs have a theory of mind. It is more likely that the pig who could see the food responded to the food as a stimulus with hormonal emissions or salivation (do pigs salivate?) or food seeking behavior, which the companion pig could sense, without having any clue to what was the visual perspective of the pig who saw the food. It would be useful to know what the other companion pig, on the same side of the barrier as the one that could see the food, did when released. Did it too follow the pig who saw the food? If so, then that would evidence of behaviorial cues, not mind reading.
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