Summary: College 7 - Pigs I

Read the summary and the most important questions on College 7 - Pigs I

• 1 Origins

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• When was the pig domesticated and did its behavior change?

  Pigs were domesticated about 9000 years ago and the behavior patterns of domesticated pigs and wild boars are similar.

• Explain the life of wild pigs vs domesticated pigs

  Wild pig:
  

  • Family groups (female  + offspring
    
  • Synchronized behavior in time and space
  • Non-territorial large home range (25 km2)
  • Omnivorous, flexible foragers
  • Nestbuilding around parturition
  • Piglets are weaned at 8-20 weeks.

  
  
  Domesticated pig:
  

  • Groups of the same weight and age
  • Fed concentrated diets in barren environments
  • Around parturition and during lactation sows and piglets in farrowing pens
  • At 25kg piglets go to a fattening unit
  • Growing-finishing pigs until slaughter 

• 2 Perception, smell, taste and hearing

• Explain the senses of a pig.

  • Rooting disk: very powerful, but also very flexible and sensitive. Contains as many nerves as human fingertips. 
  • Their sight is similar to dog's sight: only yellow and blue cones.
  • Their sense of smell is even better than a dog's sense of smell, especially under ground.
  • They also have more taste buds than humans or dogs, but perceive taste in a different way, They tolerate bitter foods more and something that tastes sweet to us may not taste sweet to pigs. 

• 3 Communication

• Can pigs discriminate individual pigs? If yes, based on what?

  Yes they can. This is based on familiarity, not genetic relatedness. They do this through olfactory, auditory and visual cues,

• In what 4 ways do pigs communicate?

  • Visual: body language (threatening poses), tail and ears.
  • Sounds: many types of calls that vary in frequency, amplitude and duration.
  • Tactile:
    - Piglets massage the udder when they want to drink
    - Nudging of pen mate as an invitation for play behavior
    - Nosing behavior
  • Olfactory: pheromones. Androstenone in saliva and urine of boar causes standing reflex. Also alarm substances in urine.

• 4 Cognition and learning

• Explain a pig's cognition.

  • High intellectual ability
  • Spatial cognitive skills
  • They can use information from a mirror to locate food

• 5 Aggression and dominance

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• What types of dominance relationships can pigs have?

  • Within family group: based on body size and age
  • Competition at the udder with siblings
  • Dominance fights with unfamiliar pigs

• What do abrupt changes in group composition (at mixing) cause?

  Aggression between unfamiliar pigs.
  Due to these homogeneous groups (same size and weight) it is difficult to settle hierarchy.

• When do pigs show aggression?

  • Fights between unfamiliar pigs (dominance fights)
  • Competition for resources
  • Frustration-induced aggression
  • Maternal aggression
  • Savaging (when sows bite their piglets to death after birth).

• What types of agonistic behavior do pigs show?

  • Fights between unfamiliar pigs:
    - Head knocking, biting, levering, pushing
    - Turning away, fleeing (loser of the fight)
  • Threats: standing in front, glances, etc.
  • Short aggressive acts: head knocks, bites, moves, chasing