Scientists Discover That Pigs Can Actually Play Video Games

There’s a new pig in town, so step aside Wilbur.

In the classic children’s book Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White introduces readers to a very smart little piglet.

As someone who loved the book in 3rd grade, I was only a little surprised to learn that pigs actually are genuinely very smart!

Image credit: Lucia Macedo via Unsplash

Earlier this year, pathobiologists from the Center for Animal Welfare Science at Purdue University in Indiana gave 4 pigs a test originally designed for primates.

They wanted to see if pigs could combine multiple complex tasks to earn a treat.

Image Credit: Frontiers in Psychology

As Rebecca Nordquist, the Assistant Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University explains:

The animals need to understand the link between moving around a joystick and what’s happening on a computer screen, and then link what’s happening on the screen to getting a reward.

The four pigs tested were all able to do that to some extent, showing off their smarts.

Each time the pigs successfully completed their task, the researchers gave them a harder one, like progressive levels in Tetris or Mario.

Image Credit: Frontiers in Psychology

Now pigs, of course, do not have opposable thumbs. They were trained to move the joystick with their snouts.

Unsurprisingly, and probably for a variety of reasons, while the pigs were initially successful, they did not perform as well as their monkey predecessors.

Pigs have long been reputed as being very smart, but there are certain tasks that tend to challenge them.

Again, Professor Nordquist explains:

Mirror use, for instance, is not something all pigs can master, and while they can use simple geometric shapes to decide what response to give, recognising other pigs from photographs proves too difficult.

This was surprising since other farm animals like sheep and cattle are able to recognise their sheep and cattle friends on photographs.

Aside from the fact that it’s really bloody interesting, why do scientists care how smart pigs are?

For three reasons, the first being that it’s just really bloody interesting to get into the mind of a pig.

The second reason is a bit more practical. As farmers try out more ethical and socially responsible farming methods, they need to make sure that what they’re doing actually does benefit the animal.

For example: What good is letting pigs roam free if they can’t easily navigate the larger environment to find the food and water that they need?

And the third reason is to help us understand the pig’s “intrinsic value.”

Professor Nordquist describes this as:

Instead of monetary value as an agricultural product or value to a human as a companion, this is the value it has for being itself, just as a pig, with all of the piggy things it does, such as oinking, rooting for things like truffles, socialising, and natural intelligence.

Image credit: Benjamin Wedemeyer via Unsplash

It makes sense. Because the more we understand a thing, the more we love it.

And whether a pig’s intelligence makes people forgo the bacon or not, it could go a long way towards how the animals are treated.

Maybe that’s wrong–maybe they should all be treated as though they’re as smart or smarter than us, simply because they’re alive. But the reality is that humans assign intrinsic value, and so researchers want to make sure that value is weighted correctly.

Either way, it’s pretty remarkable that pigs can play video games. I would like to challenge one to a friendly round of Dr. Mario–truffles are on me if they win.

Did this absolutely blow your mind, or do you have one of those pets who you’re sure is smarter than most people? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Helpful Wombats Led SomeThirsty Animal Friends to Water

I really love wombats. In 2007 I even visited Australia Zoo, where I got to cuddle the larger-than-expected marsupials.

Like the rest of the world, I was devastated to hear about the wildfires ravaging the Outback, and ecstatic to learn that in some parts of the country, wombats were saving the day.

Image credit: Meg Jerrard via Unsplash

The Outback is vast and sparsely populated, so it’s easy for unusual animal behaviors to go unnoticed.

But on one particular cattle ranch in New South Wales, it became evident that Wombats were helping the ecosystem to thrive despite the drought.

You see, wombats like to burrow deep into the ground.

And on Ted Finnie’s ranch, the wombats burrowed into an underground pool.

Image Credit: Upper Hunter Landcare

As Newsweek reported:

According to Finnie’s estimates, the hole—which looks more like a “crater”–is now around 20 meters (65.6 feet) in diameter and four meters deep.

While some animals had been able to access the water before the wombats got to work, their burrowing widened it up into a nice little billabong that could serve the wider animal population.

Image Credit: Upper Hunter Landcare

Associate Professor Julie Old, a biologist at Western Sydney University, told ABC News:

“It’s almost like the wombats are water diviners, they’re finding the water and digging the holes to get to the water and the other animals are taking advantage of it.”

Image credit: David Clode via Unsplash

They certainly have the claws for it, and lots of other native species are reaping the rewards.

Finnie told the news outlet a recently erected camera trap captured birds, goannas, possums, echidnas and emus drinking at the water hole.

This story was particularly gratifying on the heels of another story earlier in the year that claimed wombats weren’t just digging tunnels but were actually herding other animals into their burrows to protect them from the fire.

I 100% believed this was true, but some experts were not so quick to buy in.

They reminded us laypeople that there’s a fine line between rounding up other hapless species and simply allowing them to coexist.

As one researcher put it:

“I wouldn’t say that wombats are “happy” about sharing with other animals, but they will “tolerate” them as long as they don’t disturb the wombat too much,” Dr. Michael Swinbourne, an ecologist at the University of Adelaide, told AFP.

Honestly, I like the idea that wombats are the marsupial saviors of the Australian animal kingdom.

But I can also accept that they are simply a critical part of a balanced ecosystem, doing their part and letting the others follow.

Either way, they are very good sports, and basically heroes in my book.

What do you think? Should we nominate wombats for a Nobel Peace Prize? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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The Singular ‘They’ Has Been Around for Centuries

FYI, my pronouns are she/her/hers.

When I was a kid, grammar was a big deal. Diagramming sentences… when to use singular and plural…

Sometimes I honestly feel like I am the ONLY person who uses “so-and-so and I” correctly.

And yet, as kids, it felt very natural to use “they” when talking about a person without specifying their gender.

We all did it in the 90s, until it was “corrected” out of us by the grammar police.

Turns out, the kids were all right. We were right.

Image credit: @nadia_bormotova iStock

It can feel confusing sometimes to read “they” in a singular context.

But if the human brain is good at anything, it’s reprogramming itself.

As Lifehacker explains:

We are taught from the moment we start speaking English that the word they is meant solely to describe a plural distinction.

Nonsense.

The oldest written example of the singular they emerged in the 14th century, when it was used in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf.

There’s no telling why they did it back then.

Maybe they weren’t such sticklers for grammatical rules as we are now–they were making up the language as they went along, after all.

Or perhaps they recognized that the generic “he” was discriminatory towards women.

Either way, if you’re a woman who has ever felt annoyed by the generic “he,” then you should probably consider getting on board the “they” train because it’s easier to say and more inclusive than “he or she.”

Image credit: Sharon McCutcheon via Unsplash

It might feel like a new concept, but it’s not.

Just like no one had to teach us to do it when we were kids, delving into the literary canon will find ample examples of writers utilizing the singular they and their.

The Oxford English Dictionary wrote a history of this type of usage, and 5 years ago The Guardian published an article detailing specific historical examples:

Geoffrey Chaucer in 1395, who wrote in The Pardoner’s Tale: “And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, They wol come up…” Shakespeare followed in 1594, in The Comedy of Errors: “There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me/As if I were their well-acquainted friend”.

It took a few centuries for they to pop up in reference to women: Jane Austen uses they in the singular 75 times in Pride and Prejudice (1813) and as Rosalind muses in 1848’s Vanity Fair: “A person can’t help their birth.”

Pride and Prejudice is one of my all-time favorite novels, so I was delighted, but not surprised, to see that Jane Austen employed the singular they.

The fact that it fit so seamlessly into her sentences that I didn’t even notice is further proof that stodgy grammarians shouldn’t hold the modern world back from employing the more inclusive pronouns.

Some examples from Pride and Prejudice, thanks to Pemberley.com include:

“But to expose the former faults of any person, without knowing what their present feelings were, seemed unjustifiable.”

And also:

“I think every thing has passed off uncommonly well, I assure you. … The venison was roasted to a turn — and everybody said they never saw so fat a haunch.”

If you need a reminder, one thing I remember very clearly from 8th grade English class is that “Each, either, neither, all the ones, and all the bodies are singular.”

Image credit: @Erik_V via iStock

Now, more than perhaps any time in history, people are waking up to the need for decolonizing language and making it more inclusive.

And that’s okay. All you have to do is take an introductory college course in English literature to realize that language is constantly evolving.

We don’t use the character thorn ( þ ) any more, and for certeyn (certain) we don’t spell words however we want to most of the time (I’m looking at you, Chaucer).

But still, language necessarily evolves, because if you don’t change, you die.

After all, they added Klingon to the dictionary. So I think we can allow a singular they.

Because if it makes someone feel more truly represented and seen, then it’s totally worth the effort.

What do you think? Does it come naturally to you, or does it take some practice? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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UFO Chicken Coop Raises Arts and Crafts to a New Level

I think I’m medium-crafty. I knit and crochet. Last year I sewed a LOT of face masks.

But I don’t take on large, ambitious projects that can’t be easily unraveled.

So I am super impressed by people who build actual things, and I loved the story of one couple who took nerdom and crafting to a whole new level.

Back in 2017, Ellen (née DeAngelis) and Brett Wilson of Boise, Idaho expanded their chicken flock.

And as any poultryman knows, chickens need a coop for roosting and to keep them safe from predators.

Being self-described “UFO nerds,” Brett and Ellen came up with a pretty cool plan.

They documented the whole process over on Backyard Chickens so that like-minded and ambitious chicken keepers could do the same.

We quickly determined that the satellite dish would be a stellar foundation. We located two 10 foot dishes on our local Craigslist page and jumped straight into this project.

I didn’t even know you could buy giant satellite dishes on Craigslist, but I guess that’s why I don’t have an awesome chicken coop.

My favorite part of their plan were the mods that they did to make the saucer extra homey and spaceship-like:

We cut window holes for windows and screwed in 6″ acrylic surveillance camera covers we found on ebay. They work perfectly!

They added a laminated wood floor, which can be easily removed for extra cleaning.

After that, the couple cut-to-size 1″ styrofoam insulation, because it’s Idaho and chickens don’t exactly live in igloos.

Next step was covering the insulation with a waterproof barrier. We chose a roofing material similar to tar paper called roofing felt at the local box store.

We cut pie shaped pieces and covered the craft…. hitting the seams with a hardy roofing tape. We then covered the craft with an Aluminum paint to provide waterproofing and a classic UFO color.

This paint is designed for roofing and would also help keep the coop cool in the Summer by reflecting light away.

We had to air the coop out for several days to eliminate any harmful fumes that may be lingering.

I’m just saying, these are some pretty pampered chickens.

After the satellite dishes, the next most ingenious step was placing the whole thing on top of an 8′ trampoline to protect the flock from coyotes and other predators.

Lights were the final touch to truly make it look like a spaceship! (and definitely the best part)

We used 2″ clear tubing to house the LED lights and put the power source on the back hatch door.

The lights are individually addressable LEDs with a 5v 4a power supply controlled by an Arduino mega.

When winter arrived, they added some additional heat that could be monitored remotely using RaspberryPi.

What an amazing home for their chickens.

For Halloween one year, they put out inflatable aliens and more lights, and they were the hit of Boise.

Their next big project was an indoor/outdoor playground for their house cats, which looks like it was also a great success.

Clearly, I need to up my craft game because this is next level creativity!

What do you think? Do they win Pet Owners of the Year?

Be sure to hit us up in the comments!

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This Cancer Doctor Forgives Over $500,000 in Patient Debt

When I feel sick, the last thing I want to think about is bills. But as many Americans know all too well, being sick can be extremely expensive.

According to CNBC over 17% of Americans have defaulted on their medical debt.

In a population of 3.28 million, that’s almost 56 million people who can’t pay their medical bills.

That’s why the story of Dr. Omar Atiq of Pine Bluff, Arkansas is so bittersweet.

Medical expense is familiar concept. We’ve all seen the GoFundMe pages to raise money for treatment.

According to a Time interview with CEO Rob Solomon, 30% of the site’s fundraisers are for medical care.

He even went to Congress to ask for help.

Dr. Omar Atiq has spoken about the same issue, and urged colleagues to contact their government leaders:

But in December 2020, Dr. Atiq, who had been treating cancer patients in Arkansas for three decades, tried to help his patients one last time in the best way that he could.

Forced to close his oncology clinic because of staffing shortages, Dr. Atiq made the decision to forgive all outstanding balances.

After working with his billing company to forgive about $650,000 owed by around 200 patients, he sent an unexpected Christmas card to his patients.

“I hope this note finds you well. The Arkansas Cancer Clinic was proud to serve you as a patient. Although various health insurances pay most of the bills for the majority of patients, even the deductibles and co-pays can be burdensome. Unfortunately, that is the way our health care system currently works.

Arkansas Cancer Clinic is closing its practice after over 29 years of dedicated service to the community. The clinic has decided to forego all balances owed to the clinic by its patients.

Happy Holidays.”

Here’s what the card looked like…

Interviewed by Fox 16, Dr. Atiq explained:

“Being sick is hard, having cancer is harder, and having Cancer in this pandemic is devastating.

I am just a regular physician–a regular person that they have in the neighborhood–it just so happens to be me standing here.

The ones struggling couldn’t pay, so we thought we could just write off the debt.”

What an absolutely amazing human being.

Now a professor at the University of Arkansas Medical School, it is clear that Dr. Atiq’s students won’t just learn how to treat cancer patients, but also how to treat their neighbors.

This story gave me so many feels. What about you? Let us know in the comments.

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A Teacher’s Balloon Experiment Backfires and Earns a Big FAIL

Teachers learn a lot from their students.

But day in and day out might get a little dull.

Sometimes they might liven things up by playing a prank on their students.

I remember once in Catholic school, the priest came on the intercom to tell my 4th grade teacher that he was God, and she owed him 10%, because she had gone to a casino over the weekend and apparently hit it big.

Or maybe a teacher will try to keep things interesting by performing their own experiments through social observation.

But when one sophomore English teacher tried trick her students into proving a lesson, it backfired hilariously.

First reported on Tumblr by user @solarmorrigan, the story goes like this:

Image credit: Cheezburger

Nice setup by the teacher.

Very “nothing to see here folks, I’m just going to leave this mouse trap right here and casually walk away whistling.”

Image credit: Cheezburger

Clearly, she underestimated her advanced class. This is not their first day.

Image credit: Cheezburger

Aww, see, they just needed permission to let loose a little.

Image credit: Cheezburger

Maybe the problem is that taking the teacher out of the classroom didn’t remove the omnipresent authority of the school.

After all, teachers next door might hear the commotion. And she would be back and would find the balloons popped.

Or maybe the advanced students had more self-discipline than the teacher expected.

Either way, the Stanford Prison Experiment this was NOT.

What do you think–given more time would someone have broken down and popped a balloon? What would you have done? Tell us in the comments.

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This Kid Went Viral After Walking in on His Dad and It Reminds Us of All the Hilarious Zoom Mishaps

Where were you on November 6, 2020?

If you were like a lot of Americans, you may have been glued to the news.

Together as a country, many of us witnessed a funny moment when the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Josh Shaprio, was interrupted during an MSNBC interview by an unwitting family member. It was a moment of levity that we all needed. I personally LOL’d.

The past year has definitely been a time for video call mishaps. Remember the boss who turned himself into a potato?

Or the defendant who was definitely not a cat?

Well it was a similar story last November, when Attorney General Shapiro was speaking to MSNBC about serious election issues, when his teenage son wandered into the shot.

The poor kid was frozen for about a second in horror, before slipping away.

One user responded that it was the 2020 version of another popular meme:

That was a tense week, and the laugh couldn’t have come at a better time.

Delighted by the break from serious news, Twitter went wild, with many users comparing the teen’s hasty retreat to Homer Simpson.

A lot of users were also reminded of a similar funny interruption of “BBC Dad” in 2017:

For his part, Shapiro took the whole thing in stride, joking about it with people on Twitter:

Every parent who tried to work from home last year or helped their child with remote schooling has some kind of story like this.

They just didn’t all happen on national news.

What about you? Did you have any funny Zoom mishaps? Share them in the comments.

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Check Out This Awesome Dueling Lightsaber Battle in the Rocky Mountain Snow

Playing in the snow can be hard to resist. Sure it eventually turns to gray muck, and sometimes it needs to be shoveled.

But not being from an area that gets much snow, for me, it’s a little bit magical.

My husband’s favorite childhood memories are of playing football in the snow, and the last time we had a real one, I took the opportunity to build a snow man!

So it’s no wonder that some people in Colorado, who are used to getting plenty of snow, made a little magic of their own last February by engaging in a lightsaber duel.

Apparently, this is not the first time Coloradans have engaged in public Star Wars role play.

It’s not even the second time:

But one particular Friday evening, a young woman named Anghelie Elizabeth posted a video to her Facebook page of two people dressed in black, their swords clacking loudly together as they dueled in the snow.

Sadly, they do not make the electronic sounds you hear in the movies, but it’s still a blast to watch.

You can hear Elizabeth laughing in the background as she zooms in on the dueling duo.

One fighter has a blue saber like Anakin, Luke, and Rey. The other holds an orange lightsaber, which according to May4BeWithYou.com:

In the Star Wars Legends, the only known characters who have used Orange Lightsabers are Master Yaddle and Plo Koon. Both are Jedi but only the former used an Orange saber typically.

The snow definitely makes it epic, but I feel like we need a bombastic soundtrack. Think John Williams is available?

At just 30 seconds long, it’s not clear who won the battle, but it sure looks like everyone had a lot of fun. Take a look for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!

For licensing and usage, contact: licensing@viralhog.com

Posted by Anghelie Elizabeth on Saturday, February 20, 2021

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Person Has a Clever Dog That Puts Itself in Time Out and We’re Fascinated

We all know that dogs are smarter than us.

Exhibit A – my dog whines like a maniac if I work one minute past 5 pm.

But a recent Tumblr post revealed that sometimes a good boy is more than just smart.

Colorado based @mothsplaining has a couple of different Tumblr accounts dedicated to, among other things, gorgeous pictures of beautiful dogs.

One of them is a Sheltie named Karybelle… who’s QUITE a looker.

https://mothsplaining.tumblr.com/post/643741193020260352

This amazing dog went viral last year after @mothsplaining posted about a training exercise. The note read:

Over the last several months, we have been implementing a protocol to eliminate karybelle the sheltie’s barking surrounding her mealtimes.

We have accomplished this by initially introducing an alternate activity during prep time (stuffed kong) and religiously giving her a time out gated in the yard if she stops that activity to bark, thus delaying her dinner until she’s quiet.

Who knew you could give a dog a time out?

Something tells me this would not work with my dog, who is not trained in the slightest.

But for Karybelle, it worked!

This has been extremely successful; She’s gone from barking literally 100+ times during meal prep to barking 0 times, and only occasionally slips up.

Proving that Karybelle is a very good dog. But there’s always a trade-off, isn’t there?

The behavior she has chosen to replace her meal-prep-screaming (after all, that energy has to go somewhere) is frantically – but silently – running circles around the coffee table to finally slam into a perfect down-stay as her bowl is set down.

10 out of 10. Karybelle nailed the landing.

But sometimes even good doggos have to make a little noise.

This evening as the food was coming out, karybelle seamlessly slipped into her silent circling routine. except after a couple of reps, she abruptly changed course, yeeted herself out the dog door, barked once, and immediately jumped back in to resume her circling.

She actually PUT HERSELF into timeout for a second!

If that isn’t a demonstration of crystal clear understanding of criteria, i…don’t know what is lmao.

Fellow Tumblrs were appropriately amused. Even if they’re not Kong-using pet parents.

Image credit: Cheezburger

Others noted that the experience was all too human–one we are all familiar with.

Image credit: Cheezburger

What do you think? Is Karybelle basically a genius?

Let us know in the comments!

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A Mom Went Viral for Teaching Her Five Daughters That Virginity Is a Myth

All of us want to be good role models for our kids. But sometimes it’s hard to know exactly the right thing to say or do.

That’s why one mom, Nevada Shareef, made a TikTok video asking other parents to name things about the way they raised their kids that others might find strange or surprising.

Cayce LaCorte, a writer and fellow TikTok user from South Carolina, answered the call with a surprising piece of advice on chastity that she shares with her five daughters, ages seven to sixteen.

She describes herself on her Instagram page as “Actually a bunch of opinions in a trench coat,” which is a marvelously accurate description. In the video, Cayce states:

I’m going to get a lot of s**t for this, but what’re you going to do? I’ve been raising my five daughters to believe that there is no such thing as virginity.

That statement on it’s own probably would have been enough to make her go viral.

In the video, which racked up 2.7 million views in about six weeks, she goes on to explain:

“It is a patriarchal concept used to control women and serves no purpose — other than making women feel bad about ourselves. Just because some guy randomly sticks his penis in you at some point in your life does not change your worth, it does not change who you are, it doesn’t do anything other than it happened.

S*x is important. It’s a big deal. It should always be a big deal. It has nothing to do with your first time…it’s just ridiculous. The whole concept is ridiculous,

Cayce also says that she’s not worried about this particular point of view leading to promiscuity.

She’s still teaching her daughters right and wrong and how to be good people.

Cayce’s hot take on women’s bodies lit up social media across multiple platforms.

Her video especially resonated with victims of assault, as Cayce explained to Buzzfeed:

“We all have our own ‘rape/assault/pressured into doing something I didn’t want’ story. We can all empathize. For an entire society to tell you that your worth is tied to your virginity or purity, then have someone take that from you?! It’s heartbreaking and infuriating and makes me want to smash things.

We are so f**king angry about all of this, and if I can make a single survivor feel better about themselves, then I’ve already succeeded.”

The popularity of her video may seem surprising, but it just shows that women are tired of living by a set of double standards.

“Purity culture is toxic at its core. Women are treated vastly different than men because its roots are steeped in a history of women being property.

Can you imagine what the world would look like if society put half as much effort into making the world a safer place for women, instead of worrying that she’s not a virgin for her husband?”

But of course, not everyone agrees with her.

Some comments even argued physiology with Cayce, but she wasn’t having it, as she explained in this (explicit) response:

@book_mama

Reply to @rachelhill200 Respectfully…you’re wrong. #science #thehymenaintshit virginityisamyth #googleit

♬ original sound – Cayce

Cayce’s goal is to help other parents reframe the conversations that they have with their children about s*x.

She told Buzzfeed:

“It’s about the way we force arbitrary rules on ourselves and our kids and miss the big picture. Instead, we could focus on education about pregnancy, STDs, self-worth. How about, instead of making the first time special, make sure it’s always special because that’s the bare minimum you deserve.”

Going viral clearly has its ups and downs, but it looks like more ups than downs for Cayce.

And now, in addition to her blog, where readers can follow her publishing adventures, she has set up a webpage where you can track her progress on a parenting book and YouTube channel.

Cayce has a lot of advice to share about raising strong, independent daughters who know the meaning of consent.

Check out the full video!

@book_mama

♬ original sound – Cayce

Now, let us know if you agree with her no-nonsense approach in the comments!

Thanks, fam!

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