Pigs are a family of non-ruminant artiodactyls, including 8 species, including the only European representative of the wild boar family, which is the progenitor of the domestic pig.
For pigs is characterized by a compact physique and a long muzzle, ending with a naked cartilaginous moving “patch” – this device for loosening the ground in search of food. Fangs well developed, sharp, curved upwards. The limbs are four-toed; The lateral fingers (second and fourth) barely touch the ground. Like all artiodactyls, the fingers end in hoofs. The scalp is rare, consisting mainly of bristles.
The natural range of pigs covers Eurasia and Africa, but thanks to the man domestic pigs are present on all continents except for Antarctica and everywhere formed partly wild populations.
Unlike other modern ungulates, pigs are omnivorous. Most species of pigs live in forests. Pigs are good swimmers. There is an erroneous opinion that pigs have a predilection for wallowing in the mud simply out of love for her; In fact, pigs thus get rid of cutaneous parasites: when drying, dirt disappears with the parasites. Also, the mud cake protects the pig skin from blood-sucking parasites such as mosquitoes and mosquitoes. In addition, felting in the mud serves them to cool the body in hot weather.
In a number of tests on mental abilities, where the possibilities of animals for solving various problems were analyzed, the pigs show a high result both in terms of the intelligence parameter and in the observational parameter. II Akimushkin brings pigs into the top nine of the most intelligent animals.
