The Black Friday shoppers who were standing in line at midnight to score deals on video games weren't necessarily parents of teenage boys. Some of them might have been pig guardians.

It's true: Pigs love a good video game. Surprised? Then try this one on for size: Pigs can answer to their names within a week of being born. Yep. That skill takes people, what, two years to master?

Pigs are super-smart. In fact, they're classified as the fourth-smartest animal on the planet—ahead of cats and dogs (who haven't the foggiest idea what a Wii is).

And here are some other things that you may not know about pigs:

• They enjoy listening to music.
• They "Eskimo kiss" like humans by rubbing their noses together.
• The intense bond between mother pigs and their babies is just as strong as that between human parents and their children.
• Pigs are chatterboxes, and their wide range of grunts, squeaks, snarls, and snorts all have distinct meanings.
• Just like human beings, they have widely varied personalities: Pigs can be shy or outgoing, serious or playful.
• Piglets play like human children: chasing each other, pretend fighting, squealing, and playing with toys.

Pigs can also suffer from depression, as many on factory farms do. And they don't want to be slaughtered and turned into a centerpiece. This holiday season, serve a hearty and delicious Field Roast and save a pig from your table.

You may just wind up with a new favorite gaming partner.

During PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's recent trip to work with our friends at PETA India and Animal Rahat, the Indian working-animal rescue group that PETA supports, she took part in an impromptu rescue herself (as she is—and more of us should be—regularly inclined to do). As she explains:

You'll be glad to know that Craig has been adopted and is now a cherished companion.

Every day, Animal Rahat is working to make India a kinder place for animals—especially the bullocks, donkeys, and other working animals who are commonly abused and neglected. Please help Animal Rahat by making a donation to support its lifesaving efforts.

Like a good scare? If the same old haunted houses and rehashed slasher movies have you rolling your eyes, PETA has 10 scary spots guaranteed to make you scream like Jamie Lee Curtis. Let's start our virtual fright fest:

1.      A factory-farm barn

Anyone who has ever seen a horror flick knows that you never go into the barn. Good things do not happen there, unless you consider being mutilated a good thing. Anyway, didn't we learn anything about eating meat from Contagion? 

 2.      Backstage at Ringling Bros.

I'd sooner spend a year trapped in Rihanna's warped "Disturbia" world than try to dodge the whips and chains in Ringling's house of horrors.

 3.      The University of Wisconsin–Madison 

The bizarre and deadly experiments on cats that are going on behind closed doors at this school are like something out of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. But even Mary Shelley couldn't have dreamed up "science" this twisted.

 4.      A McDonald's chicken supplier's slaughterhouse 

Is there anything creepier than a clown? How about a clown with shackles, an electrified water bath, and a knife aimed at your throat?

 5.      The end of a chain in a backyard 

Remember the iconic opening sequence in Saw in which two men are chained up in a restroom? They didn't last any time at all before one of them sawed off his own leg to get free. Just sayin'.

 6.      An Australian sheep farm 

Jason Voorhees might be a knife-wielding maniac, but he's got nothing on Australian sheep farmers. Apparently, if they call it "mulesing," they can carve up their victims alive. (Shiver!)

© Patty Mark/alv.org.au

 7.      An ice floe in Newfoundland, Canada 

Even with Paramount's money, DreamWorks' special effects, and all the fake blood in Hollywood, Wes Craven couldn't create a gorier scene than the Canadian seal slaughter.

© Sea Shepherd Conservation Society 

 8.      Inside a battery cage 

Do you find that the worst part of haunted houses is the beginning, when your whole group is smashed into that dark, tiny room before you start the tour? If you get claustrophobic just thinking about it, imagine if that dark, tiny room lasted for two years. It's getting hard to breathe …

 9.      A cow slaughterhouse 

People who have seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre probably still shudder when they think about Leatherface. But even at his chainsaw-slinging worst, the skin-wearing psycho isn't as frightening as the slicing and dicing that goes on inside a slaughterhouse where cows are killed for their flesh and skin.

10.  The mean streets of New York City 

For horses made to pull carriages through New York's noisy, congested streets, every car seems like Christine—except Stephen King's horror flicks only last two hours, not nine hours a day, seven days a week.

© Barbara Grove

Getting chills yet?

It's probably not too often that a first-date conversation turns to a discussion on various types of mousetraps, but that's exactly what happened to me.

When I met my boyfriend, he was in hot pursuit of a mouse who was taste-testing her way through his cabinets. He said he was trying to catch her in a snap trap and wasn't having any luck. He even surmised that the mouse was so crafty that she was not only avoiding the trap but also periodically dancing a little jig around it while pointing and laughing hysterically. (I maintain that the mouse was too smart for that antiquated trap.) So there we were on our first date talking about how the snap trap could injure his dog, may not kill the mouse (at least not instantly), and could make a big mess, and somewhere between the salad and the risotto, he agreed to give my Humane Smart Mousetrap a try.

Soon after, we met for date number two so that we could institute Operation Mouse Catch. A few days, a few dates, and a few dabs of peanut butter later, the mousier Jesse James was in custody:

We took her mug shot and promptly let her go in the yard. And contrary to his misgivings, her cabinet renegade days seem to be over. Since then, our dates have become a little more normal, and as for the mousetrap that started it all, my boyfriend's parents have decided to try it out for themselves to nab their own miniature house guest. And I did a little reading on mice. Turns out, they're a lot like us: They love to learn new things, they're very social, and they are loving companion animals.

October is Rodent Prevention Month. As we've learned, the best way to keep from having unwanted visitors is to store food in chew-proof plastic containers, keep trash in lidded cans, and seal off any possible entry points. Just focusing on killing a mouse or rat who comes indoors won't work because if the area is still appealing and accessible, another animal will simply take the first one's place.

And many rodent traps are not only ineffective but also cruel. Animals snared in glue traps, for instance, may languish for days before finally dying of starvation or dehydration. During that time, the animals' skin, fur, or feathers may be ripped off as he or she struggles to escape. And like most "kill traps" and rodent poisons, glue traps don't discriminate: Dogs, cats, other nontarget animals—and even small children—can be harmed by them.

This Rodent Prevention Month, show mice and rats some love with a Humane Smart Mousetrap. You never know where it might lead.

The time is approaching for students to heave a collective groan and start hitting the books once again. And while we don't condone copycatting, these brainy animals would be great cats to copy off if you find yourself seated next to one this semester:

• Art: Octopuses understand the power of artistic expression. They can change the color patterns on their skin to blend in with their surroundings, and when threatened, they shoot ink to blur the potential predator's view and make an escape. Michelangelo, eat your heart out.

iStockphoto.com/Tammy616

• Algebra: In math classes, buddy up with a dolphin. These math-minded mammals rely on complex nonlinear mathematics to help them navigate the ocean and hunt for food via sonar.

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• Gym: Give a dog a ball, rope, or even just some open space and watch what happens. Canines can always show us how to score an A+ in fun.

• English: Baboons can tell whether a group of letters is a real word or just gobbledygook, so they might even tell you where your Grapes of Wrath paper needs some help.

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• Sociology: Empathetic rats will free their restrained cagemates, even if it means they will then have to share a mound of chocolate. So you know they'll have no problem sharing their notes on helpful behavior in social groups.

• Choir: If you forget the words, stand next to a nightingale. They can learn 60 different songs after hearing them just a few times. (And their melodic singing might mask any off-key notes from their human classmates.)

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• Geography: Loggerhead turtles are geography whizzes who navigate by reading the Earth's magnetic field.

iStockphoto.com/red_moon_rise

• Psychology: Since elephants flirt with each other and argue about directions, they're likely always up for a rousing Mars vs. Venus debate.

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• Political Science: No matter which side of the aisle your political beliefs fall on, try to buzz on over next to a diplomatic bee in poly sci. When decisions affect the whole hive, bees put it to a vote.

Horia Varlan|cc by 2.0

• Home Economics: Perhaps they're an exclusive "in crowd," but prairie dogs describe humans based on physical characteristics, including clothing. Pair up with one in the sewing room, and hopefully you'll never hear, "Oh, here comes the girl who always wears that god-awful purple tracksuit."

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And the most important lesson that we can learn from animals? Having compassion for them.