Who doesn’t like a cool dip in the pool when temperatures climb?  Last week I installed the piggie pool and added some water.  Instant piggie play time!  Pigs love water, espcially when it gets warm outside.  And there are reasons why.

You may have heard the term“sweat like a pig”? well, pigs they are actually unable to sweat. They like to bathe in water or mud to keep cool, and they actually prefer water to mud.

To thermoregulate, they rely on wallowing in water or mud to cool their body. Adult pigs under natural or free-range conditions can often be seen wallowing when air temperature get too warm.  Mud is the pigs suntan lotion; after wallowing, the wet mud provides a cooling, and sun  protecting, layer on their body.

 Fun Pig Facts

1. Pigs snuggle close to one another and prefer to sleep nose to nose. They dream, much as humans do. In their natural surroundings, pigs spend hours playing, sunbathing, and exploring.
2. Pigs communicate constantly with one another
3. Newborn piglets learn to run to their mothers’ voices and to recognize their own names. Mother pigs sing to their young while nursing.
4. Pigs appear to have a good sense of direction and have found their way home over great distances.
5. Pigs do not “eat like pigs” or “pig out.” They prefer to eat slowly and savor their food.
6. Pigs are clean animals. If given sufficient space, they will be careful not to soil the area where they sleep or eat. 
7. Pigs are extraordinarily intelligent. They are curious and insightful animals who are widely accepted as being smarter than most animals.
8. Pigs are very peaceful animals, rarely showing aggression. The exception, as with many animals, is when a mother (sow) with her young offspring is provoked or threatened.
9. Pigs have a tremendous sense of smell. The large round disk of cartilage at the tip of the snout is connected to muscle that gives it extra flexibility and strength for rooting in the ground.
10. Pigs have 15,000 taste buds! Humans have 9,000.
11. An adult pig can run up to 11 miles per hour.
12. Pigs drink up to 14 gallons of water every day.
13. Pigs live on every continent except for Antarctica.
14. Pigs have 4 toes on each foot but they only walk on 2.
15. People with allergies sometimes have pigs as pets because they have hair not fur and they does not shed.