page_title: Domestic pig
section_title: Behavior
hierarchical_section_title: Domestic pig / Behavior
caption_attribution_description: Yorkshire pigs wallow in mud at the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, Maryland.
context_page_description: The domestic pig, often called swine, hog, or simply pig when there is no need to distinguish it from other pigs, is a large, domesticated, even-toed ungulate. It is variously considered a subspecies of the Eurasian boar or a distinct species. The domestic pig's head-plus-body length ranges from 0.9 to 1.8 m, and adult pigs typically weigh between 50 and 350 kg, with well-fed individuals often exceeding this weight range. The size and weight of hogs largely depends on their breed. Compared to other artiodactyls, a pig's head is relatively long, pointed, and free of warts. Most even-toed ungulates are herbivorous, but domestic pigs are omnivores, like their wild relative.
  When used as livestock, domestic pigs are farmed primarily for the consumption of their flesh, called pork. A group of pigs is called a passel, a team, or a sounder. The animal's bones, hide, and bristles are also used in products. Domestic pigs, especially miniature breeds, are kept as pets.
context_section_description: In many ways, their behaviour appears to be intermediate between that of other artiodactyls and of carnivores. Domestic pigs seek out the company of other pigs, and often huddle to maintain physical contact, although they do not naturally form large herds. They typically live in groups of about 8–10 adult sows, some young individuals, and some single males.
  Because of their relative lack of sweat glands, pigs often control their body temperature using behavioural thermoregulation. Wallowing, which often consists of coating the body with mud, is a behaviour frequently exhibited by pigs. They do not submerge completely under the mud, but vary the depth and duration of wallowing depending on environmental conditions. Typically, adult pigs start wallowing once the ambient temperature is around 17–21 °C (63–70 °F). They cover themselves from head to toe in mud. Pigs may use mud as a sunscreen, or as a method of keeping parasites away. Most bristled pigs will "blow their coat", meaning that they shed most of the longer, coarser stiff hair once a year, usually in spring or early summer, to prepare for the warmer months ahead.
  If conditions permit, domestic pigs feed continuously for many hours and then sleep for many hours, in contrast to ruminants which tend to feed for a short time and then sleep for a short time. Pigs are omnivorous, and are highly versatile in their feeding behaviour. As they are foraging animals, they primarily eat leaves, stems, roots, fruits, and flowers. Pigs play an important role in regions where pig toilets are employed. Domestic pigs are highly intelligent animals, on par with dogs, and according to David DiSalvo's writing in Forbes, they are "widely considered the smartest domesticated animal in the world. Pigs can move a cursor on a video screen with their snouts and understand what is happening onscreen, and even learn to distinguish between the scribbles they knew from those they saw for the first time."
caption: Domestic pigs in a wallow
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