Amongst the most common animals, found almost everywhere in the world, are pigs. Though they are native to Eurasia, there is hardly any country of the world where you cannot find pigs roaming around the rubbish bins. They belong to the ‘Suidae’ family and have been classifies into 15 species, namely Sus barbatus, Sus bucculentus, Sus cebifrons, Sus celebensis, Sus domestica, Sus falconeri, Sus heureni, Sus hysudricus, Sus oliveri, Sus philippensis, Sus salvanius, Sus scrofa, Sus strozzi†, Sus timoriensis and Sus verrucosus. In the following lines, we have provided interesting facts and amazing information on pigs. Check them out and know more about this cute, little animal.
Facts about Pig
Common Names: Pig, hog and swine
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Suidae
Genus: Sus
Species: 15
Smallest Breed: Mini Maialino (20 lbs)
Number of Teeth: 44
Natural Habitat: Throughout the world
Diet: Omnivorous (leaves and grasses, roots, fruits and flowers, dead insects, worms, tree bark, rotting carcasses, etc
Age: 9 to 15 years
Age of Maturity (females): 8 to 18 months
Age of Maturity (males): 8 to 10 months
Number of Offspring: 6 to 12
Interesting & Amazing Information on Pigs
- Pigs do not have functional sweat glands. They use water or mud for the purpose of staying cool in hot weather.
- Pigs do not prefer to sit in mud. Infact, they prefer cleanliness much more than other animals. They use the mud only as a coolant in summers, that too out of necessity.
- Mud also provides the pigs protection against flies and parasites, apart from being used as a form of sunscreen, which protects their skin from sunburn.
- A female pig is called a sow, while the male is called boar. The baby of a pig is called piglet.
- Pigs have such a well developed sense of smell that they can easily find things underground.
- Many experts consider pigs to be more trainable than dogs or cats.
- The largest pig till date was a Poland-China hog, named ‘Big Bill’. It weighed 2,552 lbs and had a height of 5 feet and a length of 9 feet.
- The scream of a frightened pig can measure 115 decibels, higher than the taking off noise of a jet engine (113 decibels).
- Even though pigs have four toes on each hoof, they walk on only two of the toes. This makes them look as if they are tiptoeing.
- The largest litter of piglets ever born included 37 piglets, out of which 36 were born alive and 33 survived.
- A full grown pig can drink up to 14 gallons of water a day.
- Domesticated pigs are used as sources of food, leather and similar products.
