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Pigs are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae family. They have been domesticated and raised as livestock by some peoples for meat (called pork) as well as for leather. Their bristly hairs are also traditionally used for brushes. Wild pigs continue to fill these functions in certain parts of the world.
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Description and behaviour
Pigs are omnivores, which means that they consume both plants and animals. On a small farm, or in a large household, they can be fed, in a kitchen, scraps as part or all of their diet. Pigs like to scavenge and will eat any kind of food, including dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta (including their own), garbage, and other pigs. Some pigs transcend species. In the wild, they are foraging animals. Pigs that are allowed to forage may be watched by swineherds. Because of their foraging abilities and excellent sense of smell, they are used to find truffles in many European countries. They are also fattened to be eaten as ham and other types of meat, such as bacon.
Pigs are very intelligent, therefore, they are highly trainable animals, and some, such as the Asian pot-bellied pig, are kept as pets. A litter of piglets typically contains between 6 and 12 animals. Occasionally, in captivity, pigs may eat their own young.
Pigs do not have effective sweat glands *, so pigs cool themselves using water or mud during hot weather. They also use mud as a form of sunscreen to protect their skin from sunburn. Mud also provides protection against flies and parasites.
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Pig species
Sus habeoncosus Malaysian pig, Warty Pig
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Hybrid swine
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Domestic Tamworth Pigs are often crossed with wild boar to create "Iron Age Pigs" that resemble early domestic pigs. The piglets have stripes or blotches like young boar. "Iron Age Pigs" are a common attraction at farm parks. The hybrids are tamer than wild boar, but less tractable than domestic swine and generally become specialist pork sausages. Other domestic breeds of pig have been crossed with wild boar to produce a leaner meat for the specialist meat trade.
Various domestic pigs have been crossed with American wild hogs to produce compact, hairy hog-like hybrids.
In "The Variation Of Animals And Plants Under Domestication" Charles Darwin wrote: The European wild boar and the Chinese domesticated pig are almost certainly specifically distinct: Sir F. Darwin crossed a sow of the latter breed with a wild Alpine boar which had become extremely tame, but the young, though having half-domesticated blood in their veins, were "extremely wild in confinement", and would not eat swill like common English pigs.
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Linguistics
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Etymology
Modern English "pig" probably derives from Old English "", which was found within compound words, the ultimate origin is unknown but Dutch "big" (meaning "young pig") seems to be a cognate. Originally "pig" referred to young pigs only as the word for adults was swine. Another Old English word for "pig" was "fearh", related to "furrow" from the Proto-Indo-European stem "" meaning "dig, furrow" (compare Latin "porcus" meaning "pig") . This reflects a widespread Indo-European tendency to name animals from typical attributes or activities.
A young pig which has just weaned is called a shoat
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Other pig-related words
The noise that a pig makes is usually represented as "oink" in the English language but in many different ways in other languages – for instance, chrum (Polish), hunk (Albanian), hulu (Mandarin Chinese), nøff (Norwegian) and so on. See oink for a fuller list.
A young pig which has just weaned is called a shoat
Early footballs were originally made from animal bladders, often from pigs. This was the origin of the term pigskins.
The familiar piggybank got its name and shape as a result of a pun on the word pygg, a type of clay commonly used to produce household items in the 18th Century.
Pig iron is so named because the molten newly-smelted iron was once poured into molds resembling rows of suckling pigs.
A type of barrel called a "hog's head" appears often in the writings of Mark Twain.
A "hogshead" is a large volume of liquid. The term is also a colloquial reference to the gearbox for the "drive" wheels of automobiles, especially for large transport trucks, particularly those used in the Pulpwood industry of the Southeastern United States.
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Pigs in religion
In ancient Greece, a sow was an appropriate sacrifice to Demeter and had been her favorite animal since she had been the Great Goddess of archaic times. Initiates at the Eleusinian Mysteries began by sacrificing a pig.
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Environmental impacts
Accidental or deliberate releases of pigs into countries or environments where they are an alien species have caused extensive environmental damage. Their omnivorous diet, aggressive behaviour and their feeding method of rooting in the ground all combine to severely damage ecosystems unused to pigs. Pigs will even eat small animals and destroy nests of ground nesting birds. *
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Health issues
Pigs harbour a range of parasites and diseases that can be easily transmitted to man. These include trichinosis, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. They also very commonly have large concentrations of parasitic ascarid worms in their guts. The presence of these diseases and parasites is one of the main reasons why pork meat should always be well cooked or cured before eating. Pigs can also be aggressive and pig induced injuries are relatively common in areas where pigs are reared of where they form part of the wild or feral fauna.
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See also
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