| Facts about
Pigs |
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Pigs belong
to the animal group Mammals
they are warm-blooded animals that suckle their
babies. |
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Although primarily
raised for their meat, pigs are one of the smartest
of the domesticated animals. |
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Males are called boars
males that are de-sexed are called barrows. |
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Females are called
sows
they can give birth beginning at 8 months to
usually 8-12 piglets. |
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Young first time mothers
are called gilts.
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All newborn baby pigs
are called piglets.
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Pigs can live up to
15 years they have an acute sense of smell,
excellent hearing and eyesight. |
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Pig manure is a valuable
fertilizer and compost additive for the veggie
patch, vines and fruit trees. |
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Pigs are the fourth
smartest animal group in the world, following
humans, apes, chimps, whales and dolphins. |
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Pigs do not have any
sweat glands, on hot days they must be allowed to wallow
in mud or shallow water to cool down. People
think that because of this, pigs are dirty
animals but in fact pigs are very clean, intelligent
creatures and learn very quickly. |
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Pigs are covered with
coarse hairs to a greater or lesser extent depending
on the breed and whether they are kept indoors
or outdoors. |
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The skin in all pigs
should be shiny and free from loose, dead skin,
scabbiness or wrinkles. |
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The tail is generally
curled (though some healthy pigs hang them straight
down intermittently when feeding) |
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All pigs have 44 teeth.
Adult males often have two sharp tusks, which
they use as digging tools and as weapons. Because
these tusks can be dangerous, farmers usually
clip them off. |
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Pigs investigate with
their mouths like human babies. Anything strange
is often explored and possibly tasted, nibbled
or bitten. |
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A pig’s nose
is called a snout. In farm pigs, the snout may
be either long and narrow, or short and broad.
The snout should be moist, clean and shinning,
it is highly mobile as well as being extremely
strong. |
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A pig’s foot
has four toes, which end in hooves. The middle
hooves are often webbed. The other two toes
do not touch the ground while the pig is standing.
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Many anatomical and
physiological features of the pig are identical
to humans. For example, insulin from the pancreas
of the pig is used to control diabetes in humans. |
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Pigs are monogastric, which means they have a simple single chambered stomach. Examples of monogastric animals include rabbits and humans. A ruminant is any hooved animal that have a stomach with four chambers, which are rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. Examples of ruminants include cattle, sheep, goats, camels, llamas, deer, buffalo and giraffes are just some. |
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Pigs belong to the
pig family Suidae.
Suidae belong to the Artiodactyl
family, a subgroup of the Ungulates.
Ungulates are hoofed (mostly)
herbivorous mammals. |
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Pigs are Omnivorous
- that is, they eat both meat and plants in
the wild, most farm pigs eat a mixture fruit,
veggies & grain. Corn is the grain that
makes the best pig food. It is illegal
in Australia to feed commercial, farm and pet
pigs any type of meat. |
