How Pigs Use Tools 0 16

Scientists from the University of Paris-Saclay and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris report in the journal Mammalian Biology that Visayan warty pigs are capable of using sticks to dig small holes — at least, this was the behavior observed in pigs at the Paris zoo.

They took a stick in their mouths and poked it into the ground; you can see this process here. Over three years of observation, eleven such instances were recorded, and almost always the stick was used by females.

The reasons for this behavior are still not entirely clear; however, pigs are considered to be among the smartest animals, so it can be assumed that they are not just poking around in the ground with a stick for no reason.