Gioca STEMAnimals

Animals · Farm and household friends

Pig

Sus scrofa domesticus

Same species as the wild boar

The flexible snout churns up the dirt, helping a pig find roots, seeds, and small creatures to eat.
The flexible snout churns up the dirt, helping a pig find roots, seeds, and small creatures to eat.
  • Status: Safe
  • Farms all around the world, with feral populations living everywhere

Numbers

Weight
660 lbfrom 110 to over 770 lb depending on the breed
Length
55 infrom 35 to 70 in
Height
28 infrom 20 to 35 in
Lifespan
10 years10 to 15 years
Maximum weight
660 lblarge breeds, more than double a large adult wild boar
Teats
16 teatsthe number varies from 10 to 16 and allows nursing all piglets at once
Gestation period
114 daysthree months, three weeks, and three days

Ten fun facts

  1. the domestic pig belongs to the same species as the wild boar and can breed with it to produce fertile offspring.

  2. the pink pig is not a natural color, but simply an animal with skin that lacks pigment altogether.

  3. a pig's flexible snout is used for rooting, which means digging in the ground to find roots and small animals.

  4. gestation lasts one hundred fourteen days, which farmers remember as three months, three weeks, and three days.

  5. a sow has ten to sixteen teats, allowing her to nurse all of her piglets at the very same time.

  6. newborn piglets are barely larger than a rat and sometimes have the striped coat of wild boar piglets.

  7. a pig's hooves can spread wider to increase its footing and prevent it from sinking deep into muddy ground.

  8. pigs are genetically very similar to humans, and their cardiovascular system is often used as a model in medical research.

  9. a pig left in the wild quickly turns feral and can change its physical appearance in very few generations.

  10. in German, the expression Schwein haben, which literally means having a pig, is used to say that someone is lucky.

The quiz answers

The first one is the question printed in your book: here is the answer. The other four are extra.

Question 1 of 5★ this one is in your book

To which species does the domestic pig belong?

Question 2 of 5

How long does a sow's pregnancy last?

Question 3 of 5

Why is a pink pig pink?

Question 4 of 5

How many teats does a sow have?

Question 5 of 5

What happens to a pig left free in the wild?

Try it yourself

Experiment 1

Take a calendar and count one hundred fourteen days from today. That is how long a pig pregnancy lasts, or three months, three weeks, and three days.

Experiment 2

Weigh two to four pounds of flour or sugar on a kitchen scale and pick them up. That is about how much a newborn piglet weighs.

Experiment 3

Count from ten to sixteen using your fingers and a friend's fingers. That is how many teats a sow has, one for every feeding piglet.

Data from Wikidata (Q787) and Wikipedia (Pig).