Kingsford goes to the beach.

February 12, 2009 4:24 PM

Meet Kingsford the piglet. He runs, he swims, and he's even litter trained!

Some interesting facts about pigs:

-Pigs rank #4 in animal intelligence behind chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants.
-They do not have sweat glands and bathe in water or mud to keep cool.
-They learn their names by 2 to 3 weeks of age and respond when called.
-They are actually very clean animals.
-A pig can run a 7 minute mile.

posted by MaryDellamorte (33 comments total)

A pig that good you can't eat all at once!
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:37 PM on February 12

A+++++ SOME PIG A CREDIT TO SHORELINE AND EBAY
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:53 PM on February 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

He's incredibly cute.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:57 PM on February 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Given the run of the kitchen, pigs can also teach themselves to open the refrigerator door.
posted by moonlet at 4:58 PM on February 12

It was sooooo cute - until it got to the stairs and turned into a Dalek.

And then it was cute again.

Might've cried at the ending to Babe
posted by Ira_ at 5:07 PM on February 12 [2 favorites has favorites]

squee!
posted by leotrotsky at 5:08 PM on February 12

Let's just get this out of the way:

BACON BACON BACON LOL BACON ROFL BACON YUM BACON BACON NOM NOM BACON
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:11 PM on February 12

(- 3 -)
posted by muymuy at 5:18 PM on February 12

kyooooot. Anyone know what kind of pig it is? And this kind of explains why there was a potbellied pig as pet craze in the 80's.
posted by ooga_booga at 5:21 PM on February 12

I want a piglet so badly. Seconding ooga_booga, I want to know the breed. I'm not a fan of grown-up potbellies, but if they're any sort that better retains its cutesy charms...
posted by luftmensch at 5:23 PM on February 12

Not so smart that they figured out how to NOT BE DELICIOUS.
posted by GuyZero at 5:29 PM on February 12 [4 favorites has favorites]

Get up, boy. I bet you can squeal. I bet you can squeal like...Kingsford.
posted by digsrus at 5:35 PM on February 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

If it squeals like that all the time I understand why most of the video is set to music.
posted by kcalder at 5:38 PM on February 12

Litter trained? How about toilet-trained? Seriously, if you can train a cat do do it, and pigs are smarter than cats...

Also, how is it that they rank animal intelligence anyway? Half the time, it seems like it's more about how closely they act like humans.
posted by explosion at 6:18 PM on February 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Given the run of the kitchen, pigs can also teach themselves to open the refrigerator door.

My fiancee desperately wants a pet pig. I contend that they're too smart, and would likely destroy the house if left to their own devices all day long. She thinks I'm afraid it'll outsmart me somehow, and she'll come home from work to find me locked in a closet. She's probably right.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:21 PM on February 12 [2 favorites has favorites]

Considering it is titled "Kingsford goes to the beach" why is there only like twenty seconds of beach footage?
posted by GavinR at 6:25 PM on February 12

Because that's the best part, Gavin. It's good to see the title police out and about tonight.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:27 PM on February 12

Pigs are amazing critters.

random anecdote: I tried eating pork for a few years, but watching the thoughtful escape attempts of some pigs on a truck headed to slaughter got me thinking again. Ever so often, I give in to social pressure...usually, though, his determined and decisive struggle comes to mind and I easily set temptation aside.
posted by batmonkey at 6:32 PM on February 12

Cute but when he grows up what's his life going to be like? How big is he going to get?
posted by marble at 6:54 PM on February 12

Explosion, this might explain it.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 7:14 PM on February 12

Cuteness overload alert!! *sigh* I've wanted to have a pet pig since I was a little kid and first saw Arnold Ziffel getting expelled from school for painting "Nude at a Filling Station." My mother-in-law had a pet pig for many years; she'd adopted Suzy-Q as a piglet and kept her for her natural life. Luckily, she and my FIL lived on just over 1,000 acres of land in a rural area, so Suzy-Q had her own outdoor pen along with a little shed for shelter and plenty of running-around area. Nevertheless, she still could unlatch her pen door and open the back door of the house (they didn't keep it locked at that time) whenever she got the hankerin' for an apple or an onion (she could open any cupboard within her reach and gobbled both treats core/paper and all).
posted by Oriole Adams at 7:16 PM on February 12

OMG, I *love* him!!!! I wonder if he knows Caplin, the capybara. This is him when he was a baby. Caplin's gianormous now, but he's still an indoor pet according to his YouTube page.
posted by dancinglamb at 7:22 PM on February 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Googling reveals that he's an Australian (which explains why he is so cute) feral piglet, which means he will grow this big (warning: pig in the photo is dead).

Actually that big isn't likely, all the more so if he was found abandoned by his mother. Here's more info on the species. Given that they're the descendants of farm pigs released by early British settlers, a feral piglet shouldn't be any harder to raise and control than a farm pig. Hopefully little Kingsford has seen the vet for blood tests in case he carries any diseases, but otherwise he's as safe a pet as any other pig.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:29 PM on February 12

I've always loved pigs. I have some dim, distant memories of years past on one of our many road trips down to Kentucky to visit grandparents, and either along the way or on an extended trip we went to a restaurant that was locally and regionally famous, it seems. The owner had a big, black pot-belly pig who enjoyed wandering around the restaurant and was very well behaved (served as a good lesson as I never fell into the common idea that pigs were filthy things). The waiters threw rolls at you across the room from giant metal buckets they filled back in the kitchen, all still warm. Man. I should find that place again.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 7:40 PM on February 12

Also if I may:
Ohmygod he is so adorable.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 7:44 PM on February 12

Damnit. I should NEVER visit these threads. I want to be swimming in cute little piglets and capybaras!

I actually did have an old clawfoot tub filled with stuffed animals in my room as a kid. It was the best thing EVER to lay in/on all my stuffed animals reading for hours.
posted by nosila at 7:56 PM on February 12

aeschenkarnos... According to the cuteoverload people, and this is kinda their bag, he's like one of these who max out at around 30 pounds. And have who knows how many genetic problems.
posted by malphigian at 8:07 PM on February 12

Monkey Adopted by Pigs!
posted by homunculus at 8:24 PM on February 12

Nevertheless, she still could unlatch her pen door and open the back door of the house (they didn't keep it locked at that time)

Siiiighhh
posted by notreally at 9:54 PM on February 12

Explosion, this might explain it.

See, that's just the thing. Crows and ravens know how to use tools and are smart as all get-out. Octopuses have demonstrated weird, but vast intelligence in, and outside of, laboratory settings. Grey Parrots questionably have learned to speak with humans.

I'll grant that chimpanzees, as sort of proto-humans are probably up there, but how do elephants, pigs, and dolphins really compare to these other animals? Why do these ranking-statements get made at all?

Oh, and then there's the giant squids, which are plotting to/have already conquered the earth from their watery lairs below.
posted by explosion at 3:48 AM on February 13

Is no one else going to comment on the cuteness of pig vs. cat? Fine. I will.

PIGGY! KITTY! PIGGGYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! KITTTTTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:52 AM on February 13

"Kingsford is an Australian Feral piglet, he is 3 weeks old and weighs 980 grams, he will grow to over 100 kg but won't be inside the house anymore by then ! He was rescued after his family had been culled as these wild pigs are a major introduced pest in Australia." from the comment thingies on the video.
posted by Lotto at 7:26 AM on February 13

That is one charming motherfucking pig.
posted by dazed_one at 9:35 AM on February 14