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Get to Know your Pig

Pig snoutPigs use a wide variety of sounds to communicate.  They squeak, grunt, bark and squeal to indicate hunger, thirst, alarm, fear, terror, affection, courtship and more.  Squeals can however reach 112 decibels (similar to a jet taking off), which can damage human hearing.  Funnily enough, pigs have sensitive hearing and loud unfamiliar noises will panic them.

Pigs have well developed vision and are able to see colours, although their floppy ears often interfere with their line of sight!  Their sense of smell is also acute and is used to recognise other pigs.  In some parts of the world, pigs are used by police to sniff out drugs, as their sense of smell is better than that of dogs.  Research shows that pigs have clear taste preferences, with suckling pigs enjoying sweet tastes and more mature pigs showing a preference for apples!  They have approximately 15,000 taste buds, which is more than any other mammal, including humans.

The lifespan of an average domestic pig is 10 – 15 years, though wild pigs and some of the smaller, pet breeds can live more than 20 years.  The heaviest pig ever recorded was named "Big Bill".  Big Bill was a Poland China hog that weighed 2,552 pounds (1157.4 kg) and was over 9 feet long.

 

 


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