Animal intelligence exists !

Recent discoveries and research in recent years have changed the way we understand animal intelligence. Animals understand, they remember, they experience emotions and express them. This is what we now call animal intelligence!

Animal intelligence has long aroused human curiosity. Indeed, their ability to cope with various situations, their adaptability, their empathic behaviour and their ability to live together in a common environment are constantly evolving.

Farm animals, with their cognitive abilities, are able to communicate with humans through their behaviour! But it is not always easy for humans to understand this behaviour because we do not have the same language or the same behavioural codes.

It is therefore important to learn to decipher the language of animals by being attentive to the individual behaviour of each animal to allow them to express their full potential.

• Discomfort and loss of performance

The conditions of modern animal husbandry cause discomfort in the animals, which react with their emotions: fear, anger, disgust, excitement, etc. The animals are left to their own devices with these emotions, which they are no longer able to manage after a while! This is the flip side of animal intelligence. All these emotions that overwhelm them will gradually lead to stress that will result in abnormal behaviour.

Long-term exposure to stress is particularly harmful for animals. It can lead to developmental problems, health problems such as digestive problems, reduced fertility, heart disease, reduced immunity to infection and even death.

With this discomfort taking over, farm animals are no longer able to use their natural abilities. Understanding what they are expressing can help us to put in place appropriate measures for their welfare.

• Frustration with natural behaviour

Farm animals experience and display frustration when they are prevented from expressing their natural behaviour. Animal intelligence allows them to communicate their discomfort by adopting abnormal behaviour! Similar to humans, stressed animals will initially start to feed less or not at all. They will become weaker and start to show health problems. Some will even let themselves die.

While some behaviours are applicable to all species (confrontation to establish a hierarchy), others are specific to each species:

1. Poultry under stress will prick themselves, scratch themselves
2. Pigs will bite their tails and ears
3. Ruminants will fight

The challenge today and in the years to come is to succeed in putting our latest knowledge of animal intelligence into practice, protecting the physical and psychological well-being of the billions of animals we breed around the world to allow them to express their full genetic potential.

• Unlocking potential through welfare

Farmed animals can remember, they can show great sensitivity and experience emotions - this is 'animal intelligence'. Avoiding discomfort allows them to express their full potential.

To avoid catastrophic situations for both animals and farms, it is essential to protect the physical and psychological well-being of farm animals. By promoting welfare, we enable animals to manage their emotions and thus their stress, allowing them to return to normal behaviour and to express their full potential.

https://elevage-planete.fr/intelligence-animale-les-betes-ne-sont-pas-betes/