Pig Facts
Pigs are incredibly intelligent. Some have indicated that they are as smart as dogs.
Due to that fact, many people have chosen to go beyond the concept of looking at pigs as a food source, but now keep them as house pets.
Interesting facts about pigs:
- They are incredibly social creatures that form bonds with pigs and people. The love laying down in close contact with each other.
- Unlike the typical image, pigs are actually very clean. They make sure that their eating areas are completely separate from their toilet areas and even newborn babies will leave their nest to use the toilet only hours after they have been born.
A mother pig is called a sow and her babies care called ‘piglets’. Pigs are mostly peace loving animals and the only time you might see any aggressive behavior is if a mother pig thinks her babies are being threatened.
Pigs have an incredible sense of smell. Their snouts have a large round disk that is made of cartilage at the very end. It is connected with muscles that allow it the ability to move so they can have the strength to root around in the ground.
Pigs that are wild pigs play an important ecological role. In their search for food they root around in the ground, moving the soil which encourages new plant growth. Pigs also spread the seeds of fruit, which gives new fruit the chance to grow.
Cultures around the world eat the meat of pigs. However, there are some diseases that are contained in pig meat that can be very harmful to humans and certain religions consider it wrong to eat the meat of pigs.
There have been many stories throughout history about pigs saving people’s lives. It is believed that their bond with the humans, combined with their intelligence, allows them the chance to do these feats.
- In the Chinese zodiac, the pig is the twelfth symbol and represents honesty, fortune, virility and happiness.
- A pig’s heart is so similar to a human heart that surgeon’s will often use various parts of the heart as replacement in heart surgery. The pig heart valve is the one that is used the most.
