Pigs

This article is about the broader pig genus. For the most familiar species, see Domestic pig.

For other uses, see Pig (disambiguation).

Sus redirects here; for the town in France, see Sus.

Swine redirects here; it is also the German name for the Świna river.

? Pig
Domestic sow with piglet
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Suidae Genus: Sus Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus

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.

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 kitchen scraps as part or all of their diet. 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 one of the most intelligent mammals, and some, such as the Asian pot-bellied pig, are kept as pets. Pigs are reportedly more intelligent and more trainable than dogs and cats.

A litter of piglets typically contains between 6 and 12 animals. Occasionally, in captivity, pigs may eat their own young.

Pigs lack sweat glands. Thus they must have access to water or mud to cool themselves during hot weather. They also use mud as a form of sunscreen to protect their skin from sunburn.

Pig species

• Sus barbatus Bearded Pig; Malaysia, Indonesia
• Sus bucculentus Vietnamese Warty Pig
• Sus cebifrons Visayas Warty Pig
• Sus celebensis Celebes Warty Pig
• Sus heureni Flores Warty Pig
• Sus philippensis Philippine Warty Pig
• Sus salvanius Pigmy Hog; NE India, Himalayas
• Sus scrofa (also called S. domesticus) Domestic pig , wild boar; Europe, Asia
• Sus timoriensis Timor Warty Pig
• Sus verrucosus Javan pig, Warty Pig; Indonesia, Philippines

Pigs in extensive growing

Hybrid Swine

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."

Pig vocabulary

Domestic pigs

Several different words in English identify different types of pigs:

• Boar - An adult male pig
• Sow - An adult female pig
• Piglet/farrow - A juvenile pig
• Shoat - A young pig between 100 to 180 lb (50 to 90 kg)
• Gilt - An immature female pig
• Barrow - A castrated male pig
• Hog - a domestic or wild adult swine, especially one raised for slaughter because they get fat quick; in its original sense it means a castrated boar aka a male pig without his testicles.
• Swine - Synonym for "pigs" (plural)

As food

Meat from pigs is called pork (coming from the Latin words "porcinus" and "porcus"). Their trotters are often sold as the jelly-like dish of pig's feet. Hog jowls are a popular soul food. The American pig-raising industry calls pork a "white meat" (like poultry) implying it is healthier than "red meat" like beef. Both Islam and Judaism forbid the eating of pork in any form, considering it to be an unclean animal: no form of pig meat can be kosher or halal (see taboo food and drink)

Qur'anic injunctions against pig

• Muslims its lawful "halal" to muslims to eat almost every kind of food; with some exceptions that has been decreed by the lord in the holy qoran, from which is pig and products http://www.theholyquran.org.

Al-Baqarah The Cow 2:173. He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.

The Food 5:3. Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: Yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islám as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, Allah is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

The Cattle 6:145. Say: "I find not in the Message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be dead meat, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine,- for it is an abomination - or, what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than Allah's". But (even so), if a person is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- thy Lord is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

The Bee 16:115. He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Cultural references to pigs

A Bearded Pig

Religious references

• 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.

• The pig is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Believers in Chinese astrology associate each animal with certain personality traits. See: Pig (Zodiac).

• Muslims are forbidden to consume pork by the Qur'an see the section "the Qur'anic injunctions against pig"

• Jews are also forbidden to consume pork by the laws of Kashrut.

Pigs and people

• Magical transformation of humans into pigs has been used as a key plot device in fantasy storytelling - from the Ancient Greek epic Odysseus, in which the hero's ship's crew is turned into pigs by Circe; to Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001) in which the heroine's parents are turned into pigs.

• Zhu Bajie is a famous part human, part pig, literary character from the Chinese novel Journey to the West.

• Pigs being fed human remains or pigs eating humans has appeared recently in popular fiction, such as the films The Deer Hunter, Snatch, Hannibal (although these are boars), and the TV show Millennium.

Pig-related idioms

• The idiomatic phrase "when pigs fly" refers to something that is unlikely to ever happen.

• The English language abounds with unflattering references and idioms involving pigs. Pigs are commonly associated with greed ("as greedy as a pig"), obesity, gluttony ("to pig out") and sloth ("a lazy pig"). Likewise, a hog is someone or something that monopolizes time, resources, or processes, e.g. a road hog or server hog. Pigs are also associated with dirtiness ("this room is a pigsty"); the latter probably comes from their habit of wallowing in mud. The perennially soot-covered character in the Peanuts comic strip is named Pig-Pen.

• "Pig" is also used as a derogatory slang term for a police officer in more than just the English language.

• "Male chauvinist pig" was a derogatory term adopted by the women's liberation movement in the 1960s to describe men who appear to believe that males are superior to females.

• "Pig" (slang) is a word used to refer to one's friend or buddy, similar to the slang dog or dawg. "Pig" is more commonly used when a female is addressing a friend, usually female, as many females find the term dog or dawg derogatory. Use of this term originated in Northern California (Millbrae, California to be exact), but has spread to Southern California.

• "In a pig's eye" is a rhyming slang expression meaning, "That's not true." "Pig's eye" rhymes with, "lie."

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.

• American footballs were originally made from pig skin and are often called 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.

Music and art

• Song of Pig is a popular song in China.

• Pigs feature heavily in the artwork and stage shows of the rock band Pink Floyd.

See also

• Family farm hog pen
• Ham
• Guinea pig (is a rodent)
• Intensive pig farming
• Razorbacks (sports team also known as "the Hogs")
• List of fictional pigs
• Pig iron
• Pigpen
• Pig War
• Fetal pig
• Hogzilla

External links

• Swine Breeds, with pictures

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Pig