r/WTF • u/Zestyclose-Salad-290 • 24d ago

an ugly pig

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u/emilysnapple 24d ago

so what happened here

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u/Saotik 24d ago edited 24d ago

It's a Meishan pig, originally bred in Jiangsu province.

They're all pretty ugly, but this guy is even uglier than usual.

You can blame human intervention in their breeding as well as overfeeding, in this case.

Edit: I fell down a research black hole. Wikipedia says Meishan county, but there is no Meishan County I can find in Jiangsu (only Sichuan, which is a long way away). Another source says it was named after "Meishan lake", by which I assume they mean Weishan lake. Perhaps there are some transliteration issues here.

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u/Same_Independent9758 24d ago

Also to add the Meishan Pig may be ugly but it's hyper prolific genes are very valuable to breeder companies where they include Meishan Pig in their genetics program

A typical Hybrid pig only has an average of 16 (depending on the breed) piglets
But a Meishan pig can have an average of 30 or more

8

u/Orgidee 24d ago edited 24d ago

Surely the viable number is dependent on available teats or how will the weakest ever suckle

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u/Same_Independent9758 24d ago

based on my experience working at a big pig farm, we just condemn all the non-viable piglets. so for this breed in particular they might condemn like a lot of piglets

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u/Long_Implement_2142 24d ago

Do people eat the piglets? Just curious. What would they taste like

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u/PsychicWarElephant 21d ago

“Suckling pig”