We are family – how pigs organize their herds
Pigs are intelligent, socially sophisticated animals that form and maintain complex hierarchies, and understanding and respecting the social structure of pigs is essential for their health and welfare.
When you see pigs roaming around a pasture, or even just napping on a bed of straw, there is a lot more going on than what you see. Pigs, like many animals, live in a highly organized unit where each member knows their place in the hierarchy. At Carroll’s, the pigs are all in one big herd, and they choose their “family” …for example, which pen they want to sleep in or who they want to nap next to. Being creatures of habit, pigs usually choose to sleep in the same stall every night. The stall is often chosen when the resident first arrives and they figure out where in the hierarchy they fall. Often pigs will tend to stay close to other pigs they arrived with at the sanctuary but sometimes they choose completely new friends. Many of the pig families never change but we do sometimes find a pig sleeping with a different family and that’s their choice. Family groupings at Carroll’s are 100% up to the resident pig and is not influenced or disrupted by humans.
Hey…you’re in my spot!
The order in which a pig falls within the hierarchy of the herd can affect every aspect of their life from when they eat to where they sleep. The hierarchy usually forms as a result of two, or more, of the herd fighting for dominance which can look like head-knocking, biting, shoving, and vocalizations like chomping, but sometimes the ranking of pigs within a herd occurs naturally. Once the social structure has been established, it usually stays in place, unchallenged and reinforced, until something happens to disrupt the herd. Reinforcing the hierarchy can involve small, everyday activities by the dominant pig like snout nudging at mealtime. If the lower ranking pig choses not to respond to the snout nudge, a fight for hierarchy dominance can begin all over again within the herd. The winner of the fight for top pig happens when one of the pigs moves back, or steps back first. At this point, the dominant pig has been established but they will often make the losing pig step back several times just to make sure the new order has been set.
Hierarchy can be chosen instantly, could take a few minutes of fighting, or be drawn out for weeks. It is 100% up to the inner dominance of each individual pig and has nothing to do with a pig’s size or age. Pigs then choose the rest of their hierarchy in the same way with each pig falling into their place below the head of the herd. If you watch them closely (and know what to look for) you can easily see them reinforcing their spot in the hierarchy.
Excuse me…have we met?
There are many ways that the social structure of a pig herd can be disrupted. For example, a high-ranking pig may be removed, even for a brief time, from the herd for medical or other reasons, there could be a death in the herd, or a new pig may be introduced to the herd as a result of a rescue. When this happens, everything might go smoothly but often that’s not the case and there can be a few tussles while the pigs sort of their new ranking.
If a high-ranking member of the herd is removed and then returned after a new social order has been established, it can be difficult to reintegrate the previous pig leader into a herd where they are no longer at the top as the new top pig will want to hold on to their upgraded status. Herd integration can be a complex process and one that takes patience and time. Luckily, these disruptions to the social structure don’t happen often.
You don’t look like a pig, and yet….
Pigs are often thought of as being aggressive to humans or other pigs. But this is usually just pigs figuring out where they fit into the hierarchy and that hierarchy can include humans! This means that they will fight, nudge and snout humans if they think they are at the top of the hierarchy and want to challenge their rank. To keep everyone safe at the sanctuary, the humans are at the top of the pig hierarchy. We reinforce this everyday, just like the pigs, by having the pigs walk around us, instead of us walking around the pigs. This helps keeps everyone safe and secure knowing their place in the social structure of the sanctuary.
Top pig at Carroll’s
So who is running the show at the sanctuary? Our top pig is Merlin and lowest ranking pig in the hierarchy is Minerva, which some people find interesting since she is the biggest pig! But, like we said, the dominant pig isn’t necessarily the biggest or oldest…just the one who has established that spot and successfully maintains it daily.