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According to Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of natural selection, features such as coloration evolved by providing individual animals with a reproductive advantage. For example, individuals with slightly better camouflage than others of the same species would, on average, leave more offspring.
The first person to breed for the Hereford color pattern in pigs – and the first to describe it – was R.U. Weber of LaPlata, Missouri. [4]: 611 From about 1902 until 1925 a number of farmers in Nebraska and Iowa, among them John Schulte of Norway, Iowa, collaborated in the selection of pigs with this coloration.
Pigs have a well-developed sense of smell; this is exploited in Europe where trained pigs find underground truffles. [75] Pigs have 1,113 genes for smell receptors, compared to 1,094 in dogs; this may indicate an acute sense of smell, but against this, insects have only around 50 to 100 such genes but make extensive use of olfaction. [76]
An 1834 painting of a Gloucestershire Old Spot in the Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery collection. Said to be the largest pig ever bred in Britain. [1]The Gloucestershire Old Spots (also Gloucester, Gloucester Old Spot, Gloucestershire Old Spot [2] or simply Old Spots [3]) is an English breed of pig which is predominantly white with black spots.
The pigs were exported to Japan in the 1860s, and became numerous there: in 2007 there were over 330 000. [10] The Japanese Kagoshima Berkshire, which apparently derives from two British Berkshire pigs imported to Japan in the 1930s, is considered a separate breed; [5]: 629 the meat may be marketed as Kurobuta pork, and can command a premium price.
Sow with piglets. The Tamworth has a long snout, a slightly dished or concave profile, and prick ears. [10] The coat is long, fine and straight and of a ginger or red-gold colour, preferably without black hair; the skin is flesh-coloured and should carry no black spots.
Romans sacrificed pigs to their gods and created an elaborate pork-based cuisine, including some dishes — such as roast udder of lactating sow — that could make even a gentile shudder.
Originally, the Duroc was a very large pig, but not as large as was the Jersey Red. Today, it is a medium-sized breed with a moderately long body and a slightly dished face. The ears are drooping and not held erect. The color is often an orangish-brown, but ranges from a light-golden shade to a deep mahogany-red. [1]