Miniature pig

A miniature sow attempting to mount another
Young pig on the streets

A miniature pig, minipig or micro-pig is a breed of domestic pig characterised by its unusually small size. Some miniature pigs – such as the Cerdo Cuino of Mexico, the Lon I of Vietnam, the Ras-n-Lansa of Guam in the Marianas Islands and the Wuzhishan of Hainan Island in China – are traditional breeds of those areas.[1]: 238 [2]: 714  Many others have been selectively bred since the mid-twentieth century specifically for laboratory use in biomedical research; among these are the Clawn and the Ohmini of Japan, the Czech Minipig, the German Göttingen Minipig, the Lao-Sung of Taiwan, the Russian Minisib, the extinct Minnesota Miniature of the United States and the Westran of Australia.[3]: 7  Some minipigs have been bred to be marketed as companion animals.[2]: 652 

Miniature pigs generally reach their full size in about four years, and may live for up to fifteen. Some may reach a height of 50 cm (20 in) at the shoulder and a body length of 100 cm (40 in).[4]

History

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The first mini pig breed developed in the United States was the Minnesota Miniature, which emerged in the 1940s.[5][6]

In the 1960s, Vietnamese Pot-bellied pigs that grew up to 91 kilograms (200 lb) were sent to zoos in Western cities[7] and were used for medical research in the fields of toxicology, pharmacology, pulmonology, cardiology, aging, and as a source of organs for organ transplantation.[8] These comparatively smaller pigs were easier to work with than larger pig breeds, which typically reach weights of 600 lb (270 kg).[9]

Beginning in the late 1960s at the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics (Institut für Tierzucht und Haustiergenetik) at the University of Göttingen, Germany, the Göttingen minipig was developed by crossbreeding the Minnesota minipig, the Vietnamese Pot-Bellied pig and the German Landrace pig.[10]

In the mid-1980s, the Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario imported breeding Vietnamese Pot-Bellied pigs to Canada, which became the foundation for the pot-bellied pig in North America.[11] The breed is known for its small stature, swayed back, and pronounced pot belly. Because of custom laws, only their offspring could be sold in the United States. U.S. zoos were the main target for the offspring.[12][13][14]

Up to five additional imports were made in the following 10 years. To track the pedigrees, the Potbellied Pig Registry Service, Inc (PPRSI) was created to preserve these bloodlines and establish a breed registry in the United States. This registry was dissolved in the late 1990s.[11] Today, most pot-bellied pigs are seldom to never purebred, as the pure breed is critically endangered.

Use

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Miniature pigs have been used for medical research, including toxicology, pharmacology, experimental surgery, pulmonology, cardiology, xenotransplantation, orthopedic procedures[15] and aging studies. Mini pigs are mainly used for biochemical, anatomical, and physiological similarities to humans. They are also quick to develop, making it easier to breed and have more genomic background compared to other animal models of toxicology. Today, more than 60,000 pigs are used for scientific research.[16][17][18] For example, scientists are working on studying the possibility of utilizing pig hearts for human heart organ transplants, and work has been done to genetically modify the tissues of pigs to be accepted by the human immune system.[19]

Miniature pigs are occasionally kept as companion animals, and some have been bred specifically to be marketed for this purpose.[2]: 652 

Pigs have been used in various types of animal-assisted therapy.[20][21][22][23][24][25]

Breeds

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Among the naturally-occurring traditional breeds of miniature pig are the following:

Local name(s) English name if used Country . Notes . Image
Ashanti Dwarf[1]: 206  Ghana
Bakosi[1]: 206  Cameroon
Bamaxiang[1]: 181  Guangxi, China
Chin[1]: 189  Myanmar
Cuino Mexico possibly extinct[1]: 239 
Ghori[1]: 173 
  • north-east India
  • Bhutan
  • Bangladesh
Lon Co Vietnam central Vietnam[1]: 188 
Lon I "Vietnamese Pot-bellied" Vietnam traditional breed, formerly numerous, now gravely endangered
Ras-n-las Guam[2]: 606 

Among the modern breeds created specifically for laboratory use are the following:

Name(s) Country Notes Image
Clawn Japan bred from 1978 at Kagoshima University from Landrace x Large White, Göttingen Miniature and Ohmini[3]: 7 [2]: 580 [1]: 193 
Froxfield Pygmy United Kingdom[1]: 115 
Germany bred in the early 1960s at Göttingen University from small Vietnamese pigs and Minnesota Miniature; white variant developed by crossing with German Landrace[1]: 151 
Hanford Miniature[1]: 151  United States
Munich Miniature[1]: 151  Germany
Ohmini Japan bred from the 1940s from Chinese pigs and Minnesota Miniature[1]: 193 
Yucatan Miniature[1]: 238 
Yucatan Micropig[1]: 238 


References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mini pigs.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Valerie Porter, Jake Tebbit (illustrator) (1993). Pigs: A Handbook to the Breeds of the World. Ithaca, New York: Comstock Publishing Associates. ISBN 1873403178.
  2. ^ a b c d e Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  3. ^ a b Friederike Köhn (2011). History and Development of Miniature, Micro- and Minipigs. In: Peter A. McAnulty, Anthony D. Dayan, Niels-Christian Ganderup, Kenneth L. Hastings (editors) (2011). The Minipig in Biomedical Research. Boca Raton; London; New York: CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 9781439811191.
  4. ^ [s.n.] (2012). Der kleine Ratgeber Das Minischwein (in German). Vienna: Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien. Accessed January 2025.
  5. ^ A. E. Dettmers, W. E. Rempel, R. E. Comstock: Selection for small size in swine. In: J. Anim Sci. Volume 24, 1965, S. 216–220.
  6. ^ A. E. Dettmers, W. E. Rempel, D. E. Hacker: Response to current mass selection for small size in swine. In: J. Anim Sci. Volume 33, 1971, S. 212–215.
  7. ^ A field guide to pigs, John Pukite, 1964
  8. ^ Sachs, DH; Galli, C (2009). "Genetic Manipulation in Pigs". Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation. 14 (2): 148–153. doi:10.1097/mot.0b013e3283292549. PMC 2687522. PMID 19469029.
  9. ^ Deutsche Landrasse, Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen e.V. (GEH)
  10. ^ Bollen, PJA & Ellegaard, L.(1996). Developments in Breeding Göttingen Minipigs. In Tumbleson & Schook (eds.) Advances in Swine in Biomedical Research. New York: Plenum Press
  11. ^ a b "History". Miniature Potbellied Pig Registry Service, Inc. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  12. ^ "Swine and the City: Pet pig named Frannie stops traffic in NYC".
  13. ^ "Oink in the city: East Village residents bond over their pet pigs".
  14. ^ "Family pleads for help as city aims to 'dispose of' pet pig".
  15. ^ Høy-Petersen, J.; Smith, J. S.; Merkatoris, P. T.; Black, K. E.; Faivre, C. M.; Miles, K. G.; Tatarniuk, D. M.; Kraus, K. H. (2020). "Trochlear wedge sulcoplasty, tibial tuberosity transposition, and lateral imbrication for correction of a traumatic patellar luxation in a miniature companion pig: A case report and visual description". Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 7: 567886. doi:10.3389/fvets.2020.567886. PMC 7838352. PMID 33521073.
  16. ^ Bode, G., Clausing P., Gervais, F., Loegsted, J., Luft, J., Nogues, V., & Sims, J. (2010) The utility of the minipigs as an animal model in regulatory toxicology. Journal of Pharmacological and toxicological methods, 62(3), 196-220.
  17. ^ Svendensen, O. (2006). The minipig in toxicology. Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology, 57(5), 335-339.
  18. ^ Dolgin, E. (2010). Minipig, Minipig, let me in. Nature Medicine, 16(12), 1349.
  19. ^ Cooper, David K. C. (2017-03-08). "A brief history of cross-species organ transplantation". Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center). 25 (1): 49–57. doi:10.1080/08998280.2012.11928783. ISSN 0899-8280. PMC 3246856. PMID 22275786.
  20. ^ Ross, Jane (2019-11-11). "World's first airport therapy pig hogs the limelight at San Francisco airport". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  21. ^ Baskas, Harriet. "San Francisco airport introduces first 'therapy pig'". USA Today. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  22. ^ "Therapy Pigs Thunder and Bolt Are Happy to Trade Belly Scratches and Hugs for Smiles". People. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  23. ^ McKnight, Pat. "Mini pig trains to work as therapy animal". Leader-Telegram. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  24. ^ "Therapy pigs are here to help humans". KidsNews. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  25. ^ Daniel, Kathryn (2018-02-19). "Therapy pigs in Northwest Florida trained to help veterans suffering from PTSD". WEAR-TV. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
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