If the closest you've ever come to anything porcine is a packet of sausages, then you don't know what you're missing. Get your teeth into Lyall Watson's new book,
The Whole Hog and you'll quickly find out there's more to the humble pig than crackling and chitterlings.This highly readable and unusual book details everything you've ever wanted to know about the world of pigs (even if you didn't think you wanted to know anything).
Lyall Watson knows pigs, and not just from his standpoint as a respected biologist/author: he's had a few piggy friends in his time, especially during his childhood in South Africa. Growing up with an orphaned warthog cemented his interest in one of the world's most underestimated mammals.
Famous for his startling revelations about the hidden world of nature and life, and following his explorations into the lives of elephants in
Elephantoms, Watson again manages to marry anecdote with astonishing fact in an amusing and accessible style. The reader is guided through a gamut of piggy information - from the cultural to the gutteral; from Miss Piggy to possible pig to human transplants. In fact, no trotter is left unturned!
He explores the rather gruesome attitude that eating pork is rather like having a friend for dinner - literally. After all, he rather sinisterly hints, isn't human flesh supposed to taste rather alarmingly like pork? But don't worry - Watson's not on a crusade to turn you off your favourite Sunday dinner. He's far more concerned with explaining the pig and posing fascinating questions. For example, why it is that scientific researchers, especially animal behaviourists, have left the pig relatively alone?
Here's a few 'piggy facts to whet your appetite:
Pigs are among the very few mammals who don't turn away when you stare at them (in fact, Watson likens them to 'an ape in swines' clothing'; it seems they are more similar to our closest animal relations than we would imagine). The trademark curly pig tail is only characteristic of domestic pigs, as pigs can evolve to adapt with their environment extraordinarily quickly (usually within one to two generations).
These fascinating facts are interspersed with a detailed introduction to various pig breeds, and a cross-cultural history of our remarkably successful co-habitation with this animal.
After reading
The Whole Hog you'll be left with at least one conclusion - it seems that if pigs weren't so delicious, they could very well have replaced the dog as our best friend...
Other Lyall Watson titles include Elephantoms and
The Nature of Things.
The whole hog is just that, an attempt to encompass everything that
is known about all the pigs of the world. In recounting the
author's close encounters with wild pigs on three continents, the
author explores how profoundly pigs have succeeded, from the
Gadarene Swine to Miss Piggy, in capturing our imagination. Also
makes some surprising revelations. Pigs may lack big brains and
grasping hands but they nevertheless manipulate their environment
in ways that demonstrate learning, memory, abstract thought, a
capacity for pleasure and a real aptitude for reason. Pigs have
been seriously neglected and consequently suffer from an
unjustified bad press, but in truth, pigs and people have a lot in
common. We are both the recently domesticated result of a long
tradition of gregarious, playful, tuneful, caring and highly
resourceful beings. And all that prevents us from admitting pigs to
the society of creatures who understand each other, comprehend
complex relationships, distinguish between self and non-self, and
regularly respond to situations in a conceptual way, is that those
we most often see are confined to tiny sties. The whole hog is an
eye-opening new look at pigs as they really are, and an antidote to
centuries of superstition and taboo. In fact it is nothing less
than a clarion call for an honest reassessment of hoggish
behaviour, and a celebration of the fascinating true nature of
pigs.
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