Smells allow for tapping into episodic-like memory of minipigs

Abstract Episodic-like memory is considered as one of the most advanced cognitive capacities and could therefore have major implications on how animals with this capacity are treated in respect to their welfare. Yet, episodic-like memory has only been substantiated in a few vertebrate species. These species are quite diverse, originate from several taxa, and the question is raised whether episodic-like memory is indeed a rather specific capacity or whether this capacity turns out to be more common when further species are investigated. In general, intensively foraging animals that rely on some replenishing resources are promising species to investigate episodic-like memory. Here, we conducted a pilot study on minipigs (Sus scrofa f. domestica), replicating an approach used in dogs. Both, dogs and pigs are macrosmate species, making the comparison of their memory of olfactory stimuli promising. The minipigs learnt to differentiate the sequence of encountered location-smell combinations as easily as dogs. This makes minipigs a promising species and the use of smells a promising approach to investigate episodic-like memory in more detail. This study also hints towards a cognitive capacity of pigs, which raises further concerns regarding intensive and barren housing conditions.