Guinea Hog

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Guinea pig.
Guinea Hog
Livestock Conservancy (2022): threatened[2]
  • DAD-IS (2022): endangered[3]
    • Other names
    • American Guinea Hog
    • Acorn Eater
    • Guinea Forest Hog
    • Pineywoods Guinea
    • Yard Pig
    Country of originUnited States
    StandardAmerican Guinea Hog Association
    Traits
    Weight
    • 69–135 kg (150–300 lb)
    Height
    • 38–51 cm (15–20 in)
  • Sus domesticus
    • At the Roger Williams Park Zoo

    The Guinea Hog is an American

    Essex pigs of eastern England has been suggested.[4]: 192  It is apparently unconnected to an older pig also known as Guinea Hog or Red Guinea, which disappeared in the late nineteenth century.[5]
    : 606 

    The American Guinea Hog is a rare breed with a black coat, sturdy body, curly tail and upright ears.

    There are two types of Guinea hog in North America, small-boned and large-boned Guinea hogs, the latter having longer legs.[6] There is also a type of Guinea hog in South America.

    History

    The name derives from the belief that the origins of the Guinea hog were from African Guinea, but its now thought that Guinea just implied small, like Guinea Cattle. Guinea Hogs and Guinea Cattle are both smaller breeds of domestic livestock.

    Canary Isles. The original strain, although basically black, also had a hint of red and were consequently called "red Guineas"; that strain, well known at the beginning of the 19th century, is extinct.[8]

    This breed, the American Guinea hog retained its black colour but lost the red tint and is sometimes called a black Guinea. These pigs were popular with subsistence farmers, not only through their ability to forage for themselves, but also because their habit of eating snakes made the farmyard safe for children and livestock.[9]

    The breed fell out of favour after around 1880, and for a while was in danger of being entirely lost. The red Guinea no longer exists and its exact relationship with the American Guinea and what proportions of other breeds are in its background are not known for certain. However, that there is a relationship is shown by the occasional birth of a reddish pig to the normally bluish-black American Guinea parents. It is suspected that there were a number of distinct American Guineas in the past.

    Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste,[12]
    a catalog of heritage foods in danger of extinction.

    The Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo for a number of years was home to several guinea hogs.[13]

    Guinea Hogs as pets

    Guinea Hogs are one of many smaller breeds that are known to be kept as pets, though not as popular as the

    Potbelly pig or the Kunekune pig.[14]

    References

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to American Guinea Hog.
    1. ISBN 9789251057629
      . Archived 23 June 2020.
    2. ^ Guinea Hog. The Livestock Conservancy. Archived 13 January 2022.
    3. ^ Breed data sheet: Guinea Hog / United States of America (Pig). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2022.
    4. ISBN 0300088809
      .
    5. ISBN 9781780647944
      .
    6. ^ Kirk, p.103.
    7. ^ "AGHA".
    8. ^ a b Dohner, 2001.
    9. ^ a b "The Livestock Conservancy". livestockconservancy.org.
    10. ^ Nabhan et al., p.74.
    11. ^ Nabhan and Dohner 2001 have 1991, though the Association official website has 2005.
    12. ^ "Ark of Taste: Guinea Hog". Slow Food USA.
    13. ^ "American Guinea Hogs | Lincoln Park Zoo". www.lpzoo.org.
    14. ^ Malagon, Elvia. "Chicago man, self-described satanist, loses latest battle to remove 'In God We Trust' from U.S. money". chicagotribune.com.

    Bibliography

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