This book looks good.

From the Telegraph:

"Lyall Watson's book, The Whole Hog, is a brilliant contribution to the pig
cause. It is a comprehensive survey of wild and domestic pigs, from
warthogs, to peccaries, to wild boars, pigmy hogs and Javan warty pigs to
Landraces and Large Whites. He gives us zoology, anthropology, geography and
social history and much more. This is a warthogs-and-all portrait by a man
who, above all, respects pigs.

We have so much in common. Pigs, like (most of) us, are omnivores. This is
what gives them their curiosity; they are always on the look-out for a new
taste sensation. They are gregarious, communicative and enthusiastic. They
are also easily bored, which could explain why domestic pigs are so inclined
to escape.

Lyall Watson, who adopted a warthog as a child in South Africa, and later
had a peccary and then a Sulawesi warty hog as companions, has latched on to
every possible aspect of piggishness. He even touches on the subject of
pig-sticking - on which Baden-Powell was an expert, though there are
unlikely to be any Boy Scout badges to be earned for it nowadays.

He also discusses the role of the "cottage pig" in 19th-century England, the
contribution of pigs in the colonising of America, the importance of lard in
the US economy in the same century and the important art of hog-calling in
America, touching on Fred Patzel, of Indiana, "the Pavarotti of the Pig Lot"
and the legendary Fred Glanz, the world champion hog-caller, who is said
once to have summoned eight hogs, two raccoons, five possums, a Dalmatian
and a passing zebra.

The argument of the book seems to be that the intelligence of pigs deserves
greater attention from scientists and that much more study of their
behaviour could yield valuable material on the subject.

My own view is that pigs are too independent and too debonair to concern
themselves with such solemn matters and to endure all the tiresomely
repetitive tasks involved in those experiments. They are more like the stray
boar Charles Dickens happened to bump into on Broadway one day on a visit to
New York. "He leads a roving, gentlemanly, vagabond way of life, somewhat
answering that of our club-men at home."

This is a book you can root about in and be sure of discovering unexpected
ideas and delicious morsels of information. It kept me occupied for hours,
snuffling and oinking contentedly."





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