More info: Pigs are highly intelligent creatures and smarter than any other domestic animal. They have the ability to solve problems and they are considered by animal experts to be more trainable than dogs or cats. In popular culture, they appear as everything from sweet simpletons (CHARLOTTE’S WEB) to wicked tyrants (ANIMAL FARM) to brave heroes (BABE). To pig farmers, the animal is a commodity. To truffle harvesters, pigs are reliable hunters whose keen sense of smell locates these pricey fungi. To scientists, pigs are unique as one of the only large mammals that exists, in one form or another, in every part of the world.

Every continent bears the imprint of pigs trotters including red river hogs in West Africa, bearded pigs in Borneo, pig-like peccaries in Bolivia, and outlandishly tusked Indonesian babirusa. Wherever they are they all enjoy similar lifestyles of food, water, and a good roll in the mud. These ancestors of European pigs became some of the first domesticated animals thousands of years ago. Wherever humans have ventured, they have taken pigs with them.

Visitors who spend time with the pigs at Farm Sanctuary are said to often leave with the impression that they are not so different from the dogs many of them share their homes with—emotionally sensitive, playful and inquisitive, and always eager for a snack or a belly rub.