Animal magic

Acquisition of a Joystick-Operated Video Task by Pigs (Sus scrofa). The heading of an article in frontiers in Psychology, by Candace Croney and Sarah Boysen of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology and Animal Science, Center for Animal Welfare Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana and the Comparative Cognition Project, Sunbury, Ohio.

Four pigs were trained to "manipulate a joystick that controlled movement of a cursor displayed on a computer monitor. Results indicate that despite dexterity and visual constraints, pigs have the capacity to acquire a joystick-operated video-game task".

I rang my local pig farm to see whether any of their pigs could give me a hand dealing with this problem I'm having with barbarians:

Unfortunately their pigs haven't yet achieved their BTEC in Video Gaming, but they suggested I talked to the chicken farm, as they had heard that their animals had some special skills.

A contributor to an online forum in BackYard Chickens:

This morning we are out in the pen with our girls. Feeding treats, doing chores etc. Everything as usual. But today, when the treats were gone, the girls went over to a corner of the pen and layed down, very close to each other. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

We got more treats, they came over, scratched, ate and enjoyed. Once again, as soon as the food was gone, back to the same corner huddled together. They have never done this before. 5 minutes later, we had an earthquake! Since the earthquake they have been up walking, scratching, pecking as they do every day.

The chicken farmer, having never experienced this behaviour as earthquakes are not all that common in Cornwall, referred me to a nearby reptile park.

The United States Geological Survey tells us:

The earliest reference we have to unusual animal behavior prior to a significant earthquake is from Greece in 373 BC. Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days before a destructive earthquake.

Neuroscientist Michael Brecht of the Humboldt University of Berlin conducted an experiment which showed that rats can learn the rules of hide-and-seek. However when I contacted him, he referred me to a horde of barbarians living in the tundra near St. Austell..........