Talk:Pig

From Academic Kids

Do we really need quiteso many pictures on this page?!

Not really - I think one or two pictures are enough in almost all cases. For people on modems (like me), all these pictures take too long to download. I think we should keep one of the pictures (I would pick "sow with piglet" with "sow and five piglets" as my second choice) and dump the rest. The image pages could be linked to from the article, if people really think they're useful. --Camembert

Is anybody planning on putting a taxobox on this page like on other animal pages? -- Zoe

I'm unsure of how to best add a link to P.I.G. to this article. a little blurb at the end of the article? Crackshoe 01:38, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

A disambiguation page would, i think, be a bit overkill. Crackshoe 01:40, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I think there should be list of famous and fictional pigs. thealexfish 9:33, 5th of April, 2004

What exactly is "snuffly"? Joyous 01:57, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)

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Rossami: Minor correction regarding your sweat gland revision comment: while it is true that pigs are not the only mammals without sweat glands (the naked mole rat (http://www.torontozoo.com/meet_animals/details.asp?nav=3&AnimalId=622) similarly has no sweat glands), dogs do in fact have eccrine sweat glands, but only on their nose. There's a nice obscure fact for ya, huh? -- ClockworkTroll 06:55, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

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Anyone interested in improving the content of the agricultural information on Wikipedia, here is your opportunity. Livestock has been nominated as a Collaboration of the Week (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Collaboration_of_the_week). H2O 23:52, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

More pictures

• thumb|left|Piglets
• thumb|left|More piglets
• thumb|left|Piglet
• thumb|left|Pig litter
• thumb|left|Physiologist with piglets

NPOV issue

(The following cited section of the article was removed 09:28, Feb 18, 2005 by: 128.155.18.240 Paul August ☎ 21:31, Feb 19, 2005 (UTC))

Please read the following section in the article:

Mother pigs on factory farms in the U.S. live most of their lives in individual crates 7 feet long by 2 feet wide.

through to

At the slaughterhouse, improper stunning means that many hogs reach the scalding water bath (intended to soften their skin and remove the hair) alive.

This information may be correct but the writing style and content is biased, in my opinion. Although the living and slaughtering conditions of intensively-farmed livestock is arguably questionable, these sections are biased towards the animal rights cause. I suggest that the information is re-written and placed in a separate article, perhaps something like Intensive pig farming methods. The existing article should have a link to the article where this information is included.

The section covered should be replaced with the following statement(or similar):

the living conditions and slaughtering methods employed for pigs under intensive farming conditions is subject to criticism as causing unnecessary cruelty by many animal rights campaigners (add some links, including ones to the new page if the information is added to a new article).

Alternatively, a section within the article concerned with generalised methods of pig rearing and slaughter is as good and may include references to 'allegations of unecessary cruelty' by animal rights groups. As most pigs are reared under intensive conditions in developed nations, this is appropriate if balanced by a statement that 'traditional methods are generally employed in less developed nations and many regard this as more humane.

More generally, this article could include a lot more information on this animal.

I request a collaboration with the author of this section to resolve these issues if the suggested changes are not considered fair. Talk to me!

I have edited this entry because the last section in the old version was deemed excessively critical by a peer. Cute pics--ChrisJMoor 02:50, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I agree there is a problem with balance regarding the mentioned section. I thinkChrisJMoor's suggestions sound fair and any would probably be an improvement. Paul August ☎ 04:10, Feb 18, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for taking that down, Paul August. Slightly too much information for the context as well, I thought. The problem with getting unbiased primary source information on raising and slaughtering methods is that easily-accessible sources tend to have an agenda; animal rights groups, quite possibly, tend to present worse-case conditions as widespread without proof. Trade sources tend to whitewash allegations of cruelty and are a bit secretive.

How about a section of the article dedicated to the global Swine Industry? It should refer to both factory farming and traditional operations. Some generalised details of these operations would be intersting, as would minority operations such as selective breeding and medical research. A small section dedicated to the critiques of such industries and which special interest groups cite them is important for a balanced perspective. It is probably worth mentioning the role of pigs in experimental xenotransplantation and (briefly and simplistically) why this is controversial.

I have little canonical data on the above topics, but if I can find enough I will start on this section myself if no one else bothers. In the meantime I'll see if any other livestock articles need NPOVing. --ChrisJMoor 20:11, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

If by: Thanks for taking that down, ChrisJMoor is refering to the deleting the section in question, that wasn't me. That was done by 128.155.18.240. In fact, I don't think it should necessarily have been removed. I think this information should be included here or somewhere, as long as it is factual (and sources cited) and as along as it is NPOV'ed somewhat (providing context, adding balance etc) in line with what Chris wrote above. Paul August ☎ 21:31, Feb 19, 2005 (UTC)

they should tell how long they live and where they lived most of the time

Truffles and Pig Genitals?

Color me stupid, but this statement about truffles smelling like boar genitals seems either unfounded (too disgusting and expensive for primary research for me to investigate) and furthermore POV.

A quick google on the subject seems to bring-up mostly this wikipedia article.

Any thoughts? Any references? Huh?

Roodog2k 01:03, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)