Learn more about pigs

“I know of no other animals that are more consistently curious, more willing to explore new experiences, more ready to meet the world with open-mouthed enthusiasm. Pigs are incurable optimists and get a big kick out of just being.”
Lyall Watson in The Whole Hog.

Pigs are descended from wild boars and, although they were first domesticated over 5,000 years ago, they still share many of the characteristics of their wild cousins. They are gregarious animals and live in family groups, commonly consisting of two to four sows with their young. They maintain contact with others in the group, groom one another and lie close together when resting and sleeping. They form stable social hierarchies; aggression is rare, largely due to the submissive behaviour of subordinate animals. Pigs may be able to recognise and remember 20-30 other pigs.

Research shows that today’s domesticated pigs still have a strong drive to perform the behaviours of their wild ancestors. None of this natural behaviour is possible for pigs kept in intensive farms >>.

Like a pig in mud…

In natural conditions, pigs spend much of their time in wooded areas. Wild pigs have large home ranges varying from 100-2,500 hectares. They are very active, spending most of their days foraging for food. To keep cool in hot weather they wallow in water or mud; when it’s cold they huddle together for warmth. Surprisingly, pigs are good swimmers.

In natural conditions, a day or two before giving birth, a sow will leave the herd and wander long distances searching for a suitable nest site. She will look for a dry hollow protected on at least one side by a bank, tree or stones and sheltered overhead by branches. She then gathers large amounts of vegetation, using grass, leaves, twigs and branches to build her nest.

Pigs can fly? Well no… but like birds they do build nests. Shortly before giving birth, a sow spends hours building an elaborate nest for her piglets.

Shortly after their birth, the sow calls her piglets to come and suckle by emitting soft grunts. After about two days she will leave the nest for short foraging trips and the piglets begin to accompany her. A few weeks later the sow and her litter will rejoin the herd, with the piglets gradually being assimilated into the group.

To find out about other farm animals, click on the links in the Read More section of this page >>