Jul 16, 2005 4:11 pm US/Central
CBS 2 At Brookfield Zoo: Pinto And Petunia Pig
They're Just As Smart As Dogs
by Susan Carlson
(CBS)
Meet a perky porker this week at Brookfield Zoo – Pinto the miniature pig.
He's a big star at Brookfield Zoo. He's so smart that he can perform tricks to delight many visitors. In fact, Pinto is just as smart as any dog. He can do just as many behaviors, and sometimes do them better!
Pinto can respond to trainers when they ask him to perform a focusing behavior to sit down, but he's got much more up his piggy sleeve.
One trick Pinto can do involves dumb bells. When a trainer rubs a piece of apple on the dumb bell (without Pinto seeing, of course), Pinto can pick out exactly which dumb bell in a line up has the apple scent. In the wild, these animals can actually smell truffles from three feet under the surface of the ground.
Pinto can also fetch, proving that dogs have nothing on him.
But Pinto isn't the only smart pig at the Brookfield Zoo. Petunia gave birth a few weeks ago on June 18 to nine beautiful piglets.
But Petunia is a domestic pig and already weighs 450 lbs. She's not done growing yet and can reach up to 800 lbs. Her babies will be her size in a year. Pinto is a smaller pig, topping out at about 60 lbs.
Meet Petunia and Pinto, the star of an "Animal Idol" at Brookfield Zoo most days at 2 p.m. through Labor Day.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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