Pigs

Pigs are characterized by a compact physique and a long muzzle ending with a bare cartilaginous moving “patch” - this is a device for loosening the earth in search of food. Fangs well developed, sharp, bent up. The extremities are four-fingered; lateral fingers (second and fourth) barely touch the ground. Like all artiodactyls , fingers end with hooves . The hairline is rare, consisting mainly of bristles . The stomach is simple (with the exception of Babirussa ). Pigs have a short (8-10cm) and narrow vagina, without clearly defined borders, which passes into the cervix. The vaginal mucosa is collected in rough longitudinal folds. In the cervix, two transverse sections are distinguished: an ampoule and a narrowed (sinuous) part. The horns of the uterus are long and thin, arranged loops. ^[one]

The natural range of pigs covers Eurasia and Africa , however, thanks to humans, domestic pigs are present on all continents except Antarctica and everywhere formed partly feral populations.

Unlike other modern ungulates, pigs are omnivores. Most species of pigs live in forests. Pigs are good swimmers. There is a misconception that pigs are addicted to wallowing in mud simply out of love for it; in fact, pigs thus get rid of skin parasites: when dried, the dirt disappears along with the parasites. Also, the mud peel protects the skin of pigs from blood-sucking parasites such as mosquitoes and midges. In addition, wallowing in the mud serves them to cool the body in hot weather.

In a series of tests for mental abilities, which analyzed the ability of animals to solve various problems, pigs show a high result both in terms of quickness and in terms of observation. I.I. Akimushkin brings pigs to the nine smartest animals ^[2] .

According to reports, the domestication of a pig first occurred in China around the eighth millennium BC ^[3] .

The domestic pig is one of the most important farm animals . From slaughter of the animal, meat , skin , lard and various pharmacological ingredients , in particular pancreatin, are obtained. From time immemorial, pig bristles have been used to make brushes and paint brushes . Dwarf breeds of domestic pigs are used as laboratory animals and kept as pets.

A person uses the internal organs of a pig directly or indirectly in the treatment of his own diseases , because human organisms and pigs are similar. Some organs of pigs can be used as a transplant ^[4] , however, the massive use of xenotransplantation is not yet possible due to unresolved problems with the reaction of the human immune system to pig transplants . Nevertheless, the use of pig organs, in comparison, for example, with the organs of primates , in medicine is very promising. Primates are much closer to humans evolutionarily , but a pig is easier to grow, in size and physiologically, pig organs are more like human organs , less problems with the ethical side of the issue.

Pigs are well trained, thanks to their sharp sense of smell they give in to training in finding drugs, as well as truffles . They can be trained in scuba diving (despite the fact that the pig does not have the innate ability to swim).

Wild members of the family are hunted .

Anatomical features (the vagina without sharp boundaries passes into the cervix) allows you to enter the insemination device, consisting of a plastic bottle with soft walls with a capacity of 150 ml and a flexible polyethylene catheter, into the pig’s uterus without visual inspection and fixation of the cervix through the rectum ^[5] .

Phylogeny

In classical taxonomy, pigs, together with bakeries and hippos, form a suborder of non-ruminant artiodactyls or pigs (Suina), which in turn refers to artiodactyls . In phylogenetic taxonomy, artiodactyls should also include cetaceans , which descended from ancestors similar to hippos. The following cladogram displays the relationship of taxon- related pigs to each other:

  Whales (Cetartiodactyla)
  ├── Callus (Tylopoda)
  └──NN
      ├── Suoidea (pigs and bakers )
      └──NN
          ├── ruminants (Ruminantia)
          └── Cetancodonta (Whippomorpha)
               ├── hippopotamus (Hippopotamidae)
               └── Cetaceans (Cetacea)

Classification

There are 22 genera of pigs, of which 5 are modern ^[6] :

• Genus Babirussa ( Babyrousa )
  • babirussa ( Babyrousa babyrussa )
  • Sulawes Babirussa ( Babyrousa celebensis )
  • Togi Babirussa ( Babyrousa togeanensis )
• Genus of large forest pigs ( Hylochoerus )
  • big forest pig ( Hylochoerus meinertzhageni )
• Genus Warthogs ( Phacochoerus )
  • African warthog ( Phacochoerus africanus )
  • desert warthog ( Phacochoerus aethiopicus )
• The genus of wild boars ( Sus )
  • bearded pig ( Sus barbatus )
  • Visayan warty pig ( Sus cebifrons )
  • Vietnamese warty pig ( Sus bucculentus )
  • wild boar, or wild pig ( Sus scrofa )
    • domestic pig ( Sus scrofa domesticus )
  • dwarf pig ( Sus salvanius )
  • Mindor warty pig ( Sus oliveri )
  • Palawan bearded pig ( Sus ahoenobarbus )
  • Sulawes warty pig ( Sus celebensis )
  • Filipino pig ( Sus philippensis )
  • Javanese pig ( Sus verrucosus )
• Genus of rosacea pigs ( Potamochoerus )
  • bristled pig ( Potamochoerus porcus )
  • bush pig ( Potamochoerus larvatus )

Previously, 3 types of non-ruminant bakers , spread in the New World and resembling a pig, were also referred to pigs, however, there are a number of specific features that distinguish bakers from pigs and suggest their separation into a separate family.

In some world religions, such as Islam or Judaism , eating pork is sinful , except in situations where the believer is threatened with death by starvation.

Since members of the family are omnivorous, including those who tend to eat carrion, wild boars, as well as their domestic relatives, who lead a free lifestyle and independently obtain food, are prone to dangerous parasitic diseases. Among parasitic diseases transmitted from pigs to humans, it is possible to distinguish, in particular, helminthiases such as trichinosis , enterobiosis , hookworm , trichocephalosis . Insufficiently processed pig meat has become and is currently causing many parasitic and infectious ailments.

• Wild boar
• Domestic pig
• Category: Pig Films

• Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary / Gilyarov M.S. , Baev A.A. , Vinberg G.G., Zavarzin G.A. et al. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1986. P. 562.

• Pig breeds
• Europe was colonized by Middle Eastern pigs
• Brent Huffman. Family Suidae - Pigs . ultimateungulate.com. Date of treatment October 21, 2013.
• Suidae hogs and pigs . Regents of the University of Michigan. Date of treatment October 21, 2013.