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Domestic Pig
Sow and five piglets
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Suidae
Genus:	Sus
Species:	S. scrofa
Binomial name
Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
Sus domesticus

The domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) is usually given the scientific name Sus scrofa, though some authors call it S. domesticus, reserving S. scrofa for the wild boar. It was domesticated approximately 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. Pigs are found across Europe, the Middle East and extend into Asia as far as Indonesia and Japan. The distinction between wild and domestic animals is slight, and domestic pigs have become feral in many parts of the world (for example, New Zealand) and caused substantial environmental damage.

Sus scrofa has four subspecies, each occupying distinct geographical areas:

• Sus scrofa scrofa (western Africa, Europe)
• Sus scrofa ussuricus (northern Asia and Japan)
• Sus scrofa cristatus (Asia Minor, India)
• Sus scrofa vittatus (Indonesia)

Pigs are one of the oldest forms of livestock, having been domesticated as early as 5000 BC . It is believed to have been domesticated either in the Near East or in China from the Wild Boar. The adaptable nature and omnivorous diet of the Wild Boar allowed early humans to domesticate it much earlier than many other forms of livestock, such as cattle. Pigs were mostly used for food, but people also used their hide for shields, their bones for tools and weapons, and their bristles for brushes. Pigs were brought to southeastern North America from Europe by De Soto and other early Spanish explorers. Escaped pigs became feral and were freely used by Native Americans as food.

As food

The domestic pig is farmed for its meat called pork. Products made of pork include sausage, bacon and ham. The head of a pig can be used to make head cheese. Liver, chitterlings, and other offal from pigs are also widely used for food. In some religions, especially Judaism and Islam, there are religious restrictions on the consumption of pork.

In industrialized nations, domestic pigs are often raised in large-scale intensive pig farms where meat can be mass-produced. Many countries have introduced laws to regulate treatment of farmed animals. In the USA, the federal Humane Slaughter Act requires pigs to be stunned before slaughter, however there is sometimes insufficient compliance or enforcement. None the less, intensively farmed pigs can spend their entire lives in confined spaces, without straw bedding. In particuar, intensively farmed sows (female pigs) spend their pregnancy in gestation crates, which are so small that they cannot turn round or lie down comfortably. Towards the end of their pregnancy they are transferred to farrowing pens. Sows may produce over twenty piglets per year in two litters. 15% of piglets die within two or three weeks of birth. The major contributor to this (both indoors and outdoors) is being crushed by their mother, so farrowing pens are designed to provide a space for the piglets that the mother cannot lie on . Piglets can be subjected to a range of treatments including castration, tail docking to reduce tail biting, teeth clipped (to reduce injuring their mother's nipples) and their ears notched to assist identification. Piglets may be weaned and removed from their mothers between two and five weeks old and placed in sheds. Extensively farmed pigs have a better living environment, which usually includes being outside for some of the time.

In developing nations and rural areas of developed nations, the domestic pig is frequently raised outdoors in yards. In some cases pigs are even raised in open fields where they are allowed to forage; they are watched by swineherds, essentially shepherds for pigs.

As pets

Pigs are known to be intelligent animals and have been found to be more trainable than dogs or cats. Asian pot-bellied pigs, a smaller subspecies of the domestic pig, have made popular house pets in the United States beginning in the latter half of the 20th century. Regular domestic farmyard pigs have also been known to be kept indoors, but due to their large size and destructive tendencies, they typically need to be moved into an outdoor pen as they grow older. Most pigs also have an extreme fear of being picked up, but will usually calm down once placed back on the floor.

Breeds of pigs

Breeds within the UK

In the UK, pig breeds are generally classified into two groups:

• Traditional
  • Berkshire
  • Hampshire
  • Large Black
  • Large White
  • Middle White
  • Tamworth Pigs
  • Wessex Saddleback
  • Chester White
  • Gloucestershire Old Spots
  • Oxford Sandy and Black
  • British Lop
  • Welsh

• Modern
  • Duroc
  • Landrace

Breeds outside the UK

Pig breeds outside the UK include:

• Zungo
• Yanan
• West French White
• Vietnamese Potbelly
• Spotted
• Red Wattle
• Norwegian Yorkshire
• Kune-Kune (pronounced "koonee-koonee")
• Piétrain
• Tokyo-X

See also

• Taboo meat
• Exotic pet
• Factory farming
• Intensive farming
• Extensive farming

References

• Template:IUCN2006
• The Humane Society of the United States
• Facatory Farming Photo Gallery
• Factory Pork Production

External links

• British Pig Association
• The Meatrix - a parody of The Matrix critcal of factory farming

• Least Concern species
• Domesticated animals
• Livestock
• Pigs
• Pork