Farm Animals

PIGS

Napolean & Babe

HOG, domesticated mammal, of the swine family, extensively raised in almost every part of the world as a food animal. Hogs belong to the order of even-toed hoofed animals. They are further classified into the suborder of animals with 44 teeth, including two enlarged canines in each jaw that grow upward and outward to form tusks. The terms hog, swine, and pig are often used interchangeably for these animals.

Hogs are probably descended from two wild swine, one species from Europe and the other species from Southeast Asia; they were perhaps first domesticated in China about 9000 years ago, and later in Europe. They were introduced into the Americas by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish explorers, and present-day feral razorbacks are probably descended from those animals.

 The adult domestic swine has a heavy, rounded body; a comparatively long, flexible snout; short legs with cloven hooves; and a short tail. The thick but sensitive skin is partly covered with coarse bristles and exhibits a wide range of color patterns. Like all swine, domestic hogs are quick-footed, intelligent animals.

Well adapted for the production of meat because they grow and mature rapidly, hogs have a short gestation period of about 114 days, and they produce large numbers of young each time they give birth. They are omnivorous and can scavenge a wide range of foods—perhaps one of the reasons they were first domesticated. As food sources, they convert cereal grains and legumes such as soybeans into meat. Other than meat, products from swine include leather (pigskin) for luggage and gloves, and bristles for brushes. For centuries they have also been used as a primary source of edible fat. In the United States until the mid-1920s, they were bred for the production of large amounts of lard. Swine in other countries such as England, however, were bred for the production of lean meat and were called bacon-type hogs. Modern swine are intermediate between these two types and are known as meat-type hogs. As the demand for fats has decreased, the meat-type hogs have been developed to resemble the bacon type more closely.