article_snippet: In an elaborate experiment, experts discovered that pigs shared the stress and happiness of pigs penmates.
article_snippet: This findings by Wageningen University in the Netherlands suggest that swine respond to each other’s feelings, and adds weight to the argument that the practice of separating the animals in farms is especially cruel.
article_snippet: The pigs were trained either to anticipate happiness or distress, by playing The pigs music and either rewarding The pigs with a pleasant treat such as chocolate raisins and a roomy house filled with peat, or putting The pigs in a stressful situation, such as keeping The pigs in isolation in a small pen.
article_snippet: Untrained, ‘naïve’ pigs were placed in a pen with a pig conditioned to expect happiness, or one that expected discomfort.
article_snippet: All the pigs were then played the same music – a piece by Bach - used in training.
article_snippet: Some of the trained pigs showed that Some of the trained pigs anticipated what may happen to Some of the trained pigs, either by displaying happy behaviours - such as wagging Some of the trained pigs tails and barking - or signs of stress, such as keeping Some of the trained pigs ears back, urinating and defecating.
article_snippet: Despite most of the trained pigs failing to react at all, Some of the trained pigs were still taken to another pen, leaving All the pigs behind, and were either rewarded or punished, depending on Some of the trained pigs training.
article_snippet: The naïve pigs, which could not have known what lay in store for Some of the trained pigs penmates, reacted to the trained pigs’ behaviour anyway.
article_snippet: In an elaborate experiment, experts discovered that pigs shared the stress and happiness of pigs penmates .
article_snippet: For example, when a trained pig showed it was stressed, a naïve pig acted in the same way, by becoming more alert and keeping a naïve pig ears back.
article_snippet: The behaviour was even more noticeable when the untrained animals noticed the behaviour of trained ‘happy’ pigs, with the animals becoming more playful and wagging the animals tails.
article_snippet: To test that the animals were responding to each other’s behaviour and not simply the music, the scientists played the naïve pigs the tune.