Fascinating Facts About Pigs

Pigs wallow in mud, grunt and squeal, and are generally gluttonous and lazy. But did you know that pigs register fourth on the list of most intelligent animals? I'm not kidding. Chimpanzees, our banana eating friends, register in first place; dolphins, the smartest creatures in the sea, register second; and elephants, those huge beasts with fantastic memories come third; while in fourth we have pigs. Experts say pigs can actually learn tricks faster than dogs, and when pigs grunt it's a method of communication apparently far more sophisticated than it sounds. You can also give a pig a name and they will respond to it after only a couple of weeks.

Below are 21 more intriguing facts you probably didn't know about pigs.

Pigs are very family oriented and social creatures. They develop close relationships with their mates as well as other members of their "tribe." When they sleep they like to cuddle with each other, and sometimes the mother sows will actually band together with other sows to make up extended families.

After a baby piglet is born, it will eat so much that its weight will double after only a week. (Personally, I can relate to this since if I would eat every time I felt hungry, my weight would quickly double as well - my appetite is probably equivalent to a piglet's.)

Pigs are generally not mean-spirited animals. They only time they will fight is if a sow's piglets are threatened by some immanent danger, or if a boar gets too annoyed. Watch out if you ever get a pig angry.

They don't like heat. Since they can't sweat from a lack of sweat glands, pigs have to wallow around in mud to stay cool.

Pigs are also fantastic swimmers, which is quite surprising considering the structure of their bodies.

Other common names for them are: hog, swine, boar (a male pig), gilt (if she hasn't given birth to piglets) and sow (if she has had babies) Sows can have up to 12 piglets at one time.

Pigs' noses and eyes are very powerful. Their snouts are highly sensitive and their eye balls located far on the outside of their faces, giving them a large range of vision.

Even though it may not seem possible, pigs have more teeth than humans: 44. And the males have two large and sharp protruding tusks.

A pig's tail can come in three different varieties: kinky, straight, or curly.

Pigs are not picky eaters by any means. They have been known to consume tree bark, garbage, dead insects, rotting animals, and other types of refuse. Pigs are also cannibals, meaning they will happily feed on their own kind.

Although their snouts are highly sensitive, a pig's nose is also extremely strong since it contains a prenasal bone and round portions of strong cartilage at the end.

A pig's small lungs makes them highly susceptible to pneumonia and bronchitis.

There are four toes on a pig's foot, but they only use two toes when walking.

Pigs are excellent foragers, and because of their incredible sense of smell, Europeans use them to find valuable truffles.

Farmers raise pigs for both their meat and leather made from their hides.

They can live to be 15 years old.

Pig hair is often used for making various brushes.

The pot-bellied pig, which comes from Asia, can be kept as a delightful pet.

Now for the bad news. You should be careful around pigs since they can carry a wide range of diseases that affect humans: brucellosis and trichinosis are just two examples.

Parasitic worms also live in their digestive systems, making some people claim they are unclean animals and their meat should not be eaten. Always cook pork well before consuming it.

In Australia it's against the law to feed any type of meat to a pig, whether it be a pet pig, farm pig, or a commercial pig.

Sources:

Pigs, Vegan Peace, http://www.veganpeace.com/animal_facts/Pigs.htm

The Wonder Pigs, Facts about Pigs, http://www.thewonderpigs.com/facts.htm

Pig, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig