Pigs

The pig (Sus domesticus) was domesticated from the wild boar (Sus scrofa) more than 10,000 years ago in the Near East. It is likely that one or more domestication events occurred after this in other areas of the world. The pig rapidly became one of the most important domestic animals for human societies, a status that has maintained to this day. Nevertheless, pork consumption is avoided in Muslim and Jewish cultures. Pigs do not provide secondary products and their rearing is almost exclusively geared towards food production. Pork consumption does not only have a nutritional value, but it has also played an important role in social (e.g. feasting) and religious contexts. Pigs could be managed in a variety of ways, ranging from free pasturing to sty enclosure. The different ways in which they were kept led to a diversity of pig morphological types. Free-range pigs are typically slim and long-snouted while the enclosed pigs tend to be heavier and have a squashed skull profile.