19 Oink-credible Fun Facts About Pigs: Discover Their Playful Secrets!

1. Piggy Linguists

Move over, Dr. Dolittle: pigs are the real animal linguists! Equipped with a porcine vocabulary of grunts, snorts, and squeals, these clever swine are as chatty as a tea party gossip: When it comes to communication, pigs use a variety of vocalizations to keep in constant touch with both their young and fellow pen-pals, displaying their impressive linguistic capabilities.
Source => unityfarmsanctuary.org

2. Phelps vs. Pigs: Swimming Swine

Move over, Michael Phelps, there's a new contender for the porcine paddle: Pigs are naturally adept swimmers, using their four legs to gracefully glide through lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water without any need for training. This delightful dip not only offers swine a splashing good time, but also plays a crucial role in regulating their body temperature.
Source => farmingbase.com

Did you know that the Rabbit's Foot Fern isn't related to our furry friends, but gets its name from its fuzzy paw-like rhizomes that help it grow with ease? 🐾

=> Fun Facts about Rabbits

3. Video Game Porkers

Step aside, human gamers: there's some swine competition ready to hog the spotlight. These joystick-wielding pigs are turning a classic farmyard gruntfest into a next-level conquest: In a recent study, four smart porkers were trained to play video games with a joystick controlled by their snouts, hitting targets on a bright screen and showcasing their conceptual understanding. A massive leap in farm animal cognition research, these brainy bacon bits are proving pigs are far more intelligent than we've ever oinkmagined!
Source => smithsonianmag.com

4. Wild Hogs: Supersonic Hearing & Speed

While wild hogs might lack the sophistication of a seeing-eye pig and can't tell pigstinction between a pigmy hunter and a bush, their ears never take a piggy backseat in the quest for survival: Sporting supersonic hog hearing and ninja-like swiftness, these boar-born athletes can pinpoint potential threats up to 100 yards away, sprint at hog-wild speeds of 30 mph, and leap over fences less than 3 feet high — ensuring that any hunter who dares to take them on might just end up eating humble (swine) pie.
Source => besthuntingtimes.com

5. Sleeping Beauties of the Barnyard

Move over Sleeping Beauty – pigs are the real sleeping champions of the barnyard: Although they snooze just 32.6% of a 24-hour day, approximately 7.8 hours, this power-napping still manages to put them at second to last in the mammal sleep rankings, but it's crucial for their growth, repair, and regeneration.
Source => faculty.washington.edu

6. Endless Munching Piggies

Swimming in a sea of endless buffets, these real-life Miss Piggies never have to squeal "feed me more, you swine!" for they truly are endless munchers: Responsible pig parents must provide their curly-tailed companions with 5 to 7 pounds of feed daily, and an everlasting supply of clean water, in order to maintain tip-top health and hog happiness.
Source => livestock.extension.wisc.edu

7. Oink, Nöff, and Groin Groin: Pig Sounds

If pigs could talk, they'd be the chatterboxes of the barnyard, fluent in the languages of love – or at least, the languages of "oink": In various languages, pig sounds run the gamut from "oink" in Italian and Spanish to "nöff" in Swedish and "groin groin" in French, displaying a delightful range of linguistics for this snorty species.
Source => theguardian.com

8. Pigs - The Chatty Masterminds

Move over, Dr. Dolittle: Pigs are the real animal linguists! From grunts to huffs, and barks to screams, swine can gab with the best of them. And they don't stop at sound, either—oh no! They shake, swish, and shimmy their porky selves to express their piggy thoughts: Pigs actually use up to 10 different vocalizations, body language, and even scents to convey a wide range of emotions and needs, such as pain, stress, food anticipation, farrowing (giving birth), nursing, and more.
Source => americanminipigassociation.com

9. Insulin: A Piggy Pharmacy Trivia

What did the pig say at the pharmacy? "Insulin!": This hormone was named by Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Shafer, who selected the name insulin because it is produced in the islets of Langerhans within the pancreas, with "insula" being Latin for "island".
Source => diabetes.org

10. The Original Mud Bath Experts

Talk about the original mud bath spa treatment: Pigs and Warthogs cool themselves off by wallowing in mud, regulating their body temperature while also creating a protective barrier against parasites and insects, without the need for fancy sunscreen or secretions like hippos and elephants.
Source => foundation.sdsu.edu

11. Pig Family Reunions: Social Herds

When pigs unite for a good ol' family reunion: Two or more pig families mingle after their little ones are weaned, forming social herds until the next romantic season, merging their "bacon powers" to increase their chances of survival.
Source => brains.anatomy.msu.edu

12. Pigs & Their Noble Icon Status

When they're not busy serving as breakfast or running wild on popular TV shows, pigs have a serious side job moonlighting as noble icons for the well-to-do: The boar in Norse mythology was a symbol of the royal bloodline of Galtung and the god Ynge-Frey rode a radiant boar named Gullinbursti, making it a symbol of the Ynglinga house. Boars have been used in heraldry, such as Richard III's white boar, which was an important symbol of political affiliation during the Wars of the Roses.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

13. Pigs' Impressive Peripheral Vision

Pigs may not have a pair of binoculars on their snouts, but they've still got eyes on the prize – at least most of the time: With an impressive 310-degree peripheral vision, pigs may not be the best at measuring distances, owing to their mere 12-degree field of best vision, and can get easily bewildered by changes in light, rapid movements, and contrasting colors.
Source => porkgateway.org

14. CSI: Swine Edition - Super Sniffers

Pigs could totally steal the show on CSI: Swine Edition, cracking cases with their sniffer skills and hogging the spotlight: Pigs boast a sense of smell up to 2000 times stronger than humans, using their specialized and highly sensitive snouts to locate food, communicate with fellow porkers, and navigate their environment with the finesse of a curly-tailed Indiana Jones.
Source => crystalvalley.coop

15. Pigs' Rockstar Dentistry: 44 Teeth!

Ever heard of swine dentistry? No, they're not founding members of a punk rock band, but they sure have a lot of teeth to grind: Pigs actually sport a staggering 44 teeth, including razor-sharp needle teeth that are often clipped by breeders to prevent piglets from giving each other unsolicited piercings during playtime. And although their tusks might take a bit of time to get truly gnarly, around 2-3 years in fact, don't even think about yanking them out – they're part of the jaw bone, and removing them could lead to some seriously hog-wild complications. Instead, consider giving them a trim every 10-12 months, just to play it safe with other pets or tiny humans who might cross paths with your porcine pal.
Source => americanminipigassociation.com

16. Pigs: The Real Hygienic Hog-kin

Whoever started the rumor that pigs were the slobs of the animal kingdom really went hog wild with that misconception: Pigs are, in fact, quite clean and prefer to separate their feeding and nesting areas from their bathroom spaces, meticulously maintaining their hygiene when provided with ample space and environmental enrichments like straw to frolic with and build cozy nests.
Source => worldanimalprotection.org.uk

17. Lucky Chinese Astrology Pigs

When pigs fly, they're still considered lucky: In Chinese astrology, people born under the sign of the Pig are known for their sincerity, patience, generosity, and sense of humor, as well as being thought of as virile and often having images of pigs displayed in the bedrooms of couples trying to conceive due to their association with large litters.
Source => nationsonline.org

18. Eco-Friendly Porkers

Pigs: the unsung heroes of sustainability, gobbling up leftovers like there's no ham-orrow! These eco-friendly porkers help reduce food waste and the environmental impact of livestock farming by converting grub scraps into their own feed.
Source => foodunfolded.com

19. Snort: The Oldest Living Swine

Snort by name, record-breaker by nature: This 24-year-old Tennessee pet pig, affectionately named Snort, is vying for the title of the oldest living swine in captivity, with his family seeking the stamp of approval from Guinness World Records. Despite age-related ailments like blindness, deafness, and mobility issues, this sprinkle of porcine longevity has visited the vet just once in his life – for neutering, no less!
Source => upi.com