Latest Pig Stories
Fossil teeth show who ate what and when as grasses emergedFossil teeth of African animals show that during the past 10 million years, different plant-eating critters began grazing on grass at different times as many switched from a salad-bar diet of tree leaves and shrubs, says a University of Utah study.The first animals to hit the hay "“ technically warm-season grasses known as C4 plants "“ were zebras' ancestors, starting 9.9 million years ago. Next, some but not all rhinos made the...
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced he has lifted protection on feral swine in Bedford County and has issued an updated executive order to allow for the incidental taking of feral swine statewide by licensed hunters. "This decision to lift protection in Bedford County is based on the need to continue to take feral swine in this area, and we have not identified opportunities for trapping in...
DANVERS, Mass., Feb. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Winning Moves Games, a leading maker of board games, card games and puzzles, launches an array of titles at the American International Toy Fair, Feb. 13-16. Specializing in family fun, the Company is proud to unveil Pass The Pigs® Pig Party Edition, The Game of Life® It's a Dog's Life® Edition, a new line of puzzles called TouchTwisterz(TM) and the re-introduction of The Game of Life® Classic Edition from 1960. With its iconic...
Superbugs are not just a problem in hospitals but could be also coming from our animal farms. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Microbiology indicates insects could be responsible for spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria from pigs to humans.Ludek Zurek and collaborators from Kansas and North Carolina State Universities isolated bacteria from farm pig feces and compared them to the bacteria present in the intestines of the house flies and German cockroaches...
Despite reductions in brain size, domestication has not reduced the ability of guinea pigs to navigate a water maze. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers in Zoology tested domesticated and wild animals ('cavies') and found that they both performed well at the test, with the domestic animals actually being slightly superior.Lars Lewejohann worked with a team of researchers from the University of Münster, Germany, to investigate the differing abilities of the...
Feeding the amino acid tryptophan to young female pigs as part of their regular diet makes them less aggressive and easier to manage, according to a study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators.The tryptophan-enhanced diet reduced aggression and overall behavioral activity among young female pigs during the 8-month study. Tryptophan, which is only acquired through diet, is the precursor for the calming cerebral neurotransmitter serotonin. Keeping swine calm is...
The castration of pigs prevents the "boar taint" smell in the meat and allows them to contain more fat. However in practice this can be very different. Now, for the first time, a scientific team has collected information on the conditions of castration on European pigs. The main conclusion of the study, that forms part of the PIGCAS project, is that these animals are castrated directly by the livestock farmers, without anesthetic and in some cases, without respecting the European...
Residents of a Florida town say they regard a 150-pound wild pig that has avoided capture as a kind of hero. The pig has a Facebook page, in which supporters describe the Panama City, Fla., animal as libertarian hero and an outlaw striking a blow for freedom, The New York Times reported Saturday. One pig fan, 62-year-old real estate developer Mary Sittman, wrote on the page, Is the pig a symbol of our desire to live free of government controls? She told the Times the outlaw oinker had to be...
Protection lifted on feral swine in four other counties HARRISBURG, Pa., June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced that he was retaining protection on feral swine in Bedford County in an effort to facilitate trapping by individuals permitted by the agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Roe did, however, lift the protection in Bradford, Fulton, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. Under the executive order, issued...
A Washington state woman claims in a lawsuit against a gourmet restaurant that she suffered injuries at the mouth of one of the establishment's potbellied pigs.The woman said she was dining with her husband Jan. 11 at the Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, Wash., and decided to take a restaurant-issued pan of pig food to the eatery's swine, Seattlepi.com reported Thursday.The complaint filed in the case said it was dark inside the restaurant so the woman did not see the pig coming for the...
