David Grimm takes a trip to the Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), where some fascinating studies on farm animals are taking place. It’s an often overlooked field, but researchers are beginning to realize that these animals are smarter than we ever thought. This piece may make you think differently about the 78 billion farm animals on Earth—and also picture a pig choosing to run on a treadmill for the endorphins.
The goal is to train the pigs for an experiment that will test whether they’ll exercise just because it makes them feel good, a window into their emotions. “The idea comes from human sports physiology,” Puppe says. “That exercise can improve mood.”
A couple of decades ago, work like this would have been laughed out of the barn. There are an estimated 78 billion farm animals on Earth—a number that dwarfs monkeys, rodents, and humans combined—and we have lived with them longer than any other creature save dogs. Yet in an era where researchers are modeling rat brains on computers and showing that our canine pals may be able to intuit our thoughts, livestock remain a black box.
Get the Longreads Weekly Email